Anything For You
by Shining Cookies
Summary: "Not even my own mother wants me. The others only want my money and my looks. Why should I even bother?" Sakura Kinomoto lost trust for anybody at a young age. Would Syaoran Li, the new kid, be able to open up the lock in her heart? Read and Review pls!
1. Coffee and meetings

Anything for you

Disclaimer: I do not own CSS or any of its characters. The only things I own in this fic are my ideas.

Author's notes:  
Sakura and Syaoran are aged 18 in this story and are currently enrolled in Tomoeda National High School, and are both in grade 3 of high school. This applies for all their friends, Eriol, Takashi, Tomoyo etc as well. They are all in the same class as well, class 3-A, the smartest class of the level.

Summary:  
"Even my own mother doesn't want me. The people who does are just going for my looks and money. Why should I even bother trusting anyone?" That was what Sakura Kinomoto had always though ever since her very own mother left the family on her birthday 8 years ago. Because she's tired of being approached for her wealth and appearance, she disguises herself with thick framed glasses and wears as though she's from a poor family. she only dresses up when she was sent behalf of her family's company to some functions. But what will she do when Syaoran Li, the new kid, discovers her secret and gets interested in her? Would he be able to be the first person step into Sakura's world for the first time in years?

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Chapter one: Coffee and Meetings

_~8 years ago, April 1st, Sakura's birthday~_

_"So… she left, Dad? Touya… It's not true, right? Tell me that it isn't true that my mother, out of all people, left us for some other man! Touya…!" Screamed 10 year old Sakura Kinomoto while pulling her brother's arm and crying. Touya and their father kept silent with painful expressions and all Touya could do was to hug his sister close to him as Sakura continue sobbing. Sakura clutched her chest as she cried because the truth about her own mother leaving her hurt her so bad. She loved her mother the most and believed that she was the most wonderful person in the world. She just couldn't believe this would ever happen to her like how television dramas depicted it. She didn't know it would be this painful. The both of them were just having dinner last night to celebrate another one of Sakura's perfect grades in school, and yet, she's gone now like she was never here, along with all her belongings as well._

_Suddenly, the sobbing from Sakura softened and Touya felt that Sakura was becoming heavier on his arms. "SAKURA! OI SAKURA!" shouted Touya as he realized his dear sister had fainted out of shock._

_~End of flashback~_

Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura's best friend since elementary school, tried to shake Sakura up from her deep slumber because she fell asleep during math class again. "Sakura, time to pack up and go home, class is over!" When Sakura woke up, she realized it was already time for school to be dismissed, so she rubbed her eyes and started packing up all her books and stationary into her bag. However, Tomoyo still noticed that Sakura's eyes were a bit more wetter than usual and immediately knew what kind of dreams she had just a moment ago. But she just ignored it helped Sakura pack her stuff so they could go home together, because she knew it would not make Sakura feel any better if she mentioned anything about what happened 8 years ago. She knew fairly well Sakura hated talking about that issue, so she just smiled at Sakura instead.

Sakura Kinomoto is a girl who's extremely smart. She could achieve any grades in any area as long as she wanted. She was very pretty as well, with a sexy figure and innocent face that everybody yearned for. Guys used to follow her around, trying to strike up a simple conversation with who they refer to as the "Flawless fairy". Her most attractive feature would be her auburn coloured hair and her large clear emerald eyes that would amaze anyone with one gaze. Another notable information about her is that not only is she intelligent and gorgeous, she is also filthy rich. Her family owns a whole chain of high-end hotels and restaurants all over the world, and their family business, the Kinomoto Group, is owned by Sakura's father and brother, Fujitaka and Touya Kinomoto. The both of them are known for their capabilities as they have built at least a hotel that is very popular in almost every country.

Tomoyo Daidouji is Sakura's best friend since young, and she is also Sakura's cousin from the mother's side. She's as perfect as Sakura, just that she has amethyst eyes and long wavy hair of the same colour. Her family is very famous as well, as her mother, Sonomi Daidouji, owns the Daidouji Fashions, which designs for many famous celebrities from all parts of the world. Tomoyo helps her mother manage the company by designing clothes for teenage girls when she has time and uses Sakura as her personal model sometimes to make adjustments to her work. She likes to design dressed and outfits for Sakura during special occasions such as dinner functions that she has to attend on behalf of the company, and likes to use her camcorder to film down all the adorable moments Sakura has even though she seldom does that nowadays.

But ever since Sakura's mother had an affair 8 years ago and left the Kinomotos, she changed. She was no longer the cheerful girl she was in the past and she talked coldly to everyone around her except for her best friends Tomoyo, Meiling, Rika, Naoko, Chiharu, Takashi and her own family members. She started wearing thick framed specs to hide her face and wore a shoulder length wig of the same colour as her hair to hide her long hair. She stopped wearing the pretty clothes Tomoyo designed specially for her and dressed herself sloppily as if she was from a really poor family. She stopped getting perfect grades in school, not because she could not, but because she no longer as the motivation to continue being perfect anymore. She was sick of people sucking up to her for her looks and her wealth, so she decided to change how she looked and also her surname from Kinomoto to Makino, so no one from school knows that she is a Kinomoto. Tomoyo drives her to school, so no one really knows where she lives.

Their friends were just as rich as they are, with Rika's family that produced toys all over the world, and Naoko's family that runs a global corporation that makes electrical gadgets such as mp3, cameras and computers. Chiharu's family owns a company that makes cosmetic products that are very popular in Asia. Takashi is the son of the president of a printing company, and they are in charge of printing the country's newspaper and magazines. Meiling's family are relatives with the Li's, and they own businesses in all areas ranging from finance to food production. Chiharu is engaged with Takashi, by the way.

However, today was different from all the other days. Normally, Tomoyo and Sakura would go straight home to the Kinomoto mansion and do their home work together and spend some time chatting. But today, Sakura had something on tonight, and she needed Tomoyo to help her as well. She needs to attend a dinner function on behalf of her brother and father again organized by the Li Corporation, Meiling's close relative's company, and she needs Tomoyo to help dress her up for the occasion. The Kinomoto Group and Daidouji Fashions were invited because they had been close business partners and they had a lot of business deals with the Li Corp. News had it that they were going to announce the return to Japan of the son of the president, Yelan Li, as he had always been studying in China ever since he was a child.

Tomoyo dragged Sakura along the hallways of the school to the entrance of the school so that they could hurry back to the mansion to prepare, but as they were running, Sakura bumped into guy and dropped her bag on the floor. Both the guy and Sakura fell on the floor with a loud thud and Sakura's specs fell on the floor. As the guy was holding a cup of coffee, the coffee spilled on Sakura as they bumped into each other and there was a huge stain her Sakura's white uniform blouse. The guy stepped on Sakura's specs as he tried to get up, and Sakura, seeing that, stood up immediately and put her hand on the guy's shoulder and turned him around.

"Apologize, asshole." Sakura said with a pissed off expression on her face. She was never in a good mood after she woke up, especially after she had a dream about her mother, so this person just made her day worse than it already is.

"Why should I? You knocked into me while you ran. I even lost my coffee because of you, you should apologize to me, not the other way round." Scoffed the guy and turned around to continue walking.

"You…..! You broke my glasses you rude idiot! Hey!" Screamed Sakura and tried to chase the person as he walked away like nothing has ever happened, but Tomoyo stopped her before she could run after him and said, "Sakura, we're running late for the function! We can get him another time, but not now, alright? Tonight is important for both of us!" And hence Sakura had no choice but to turned around, pissed off, and rushed back home to dress up along with Tomoyo. She did make a mental note that she'd get back at that person someday when she sees him again.

"I'll get my revenge, arrogant guy with brown chestnut messy hair…! I guess it's a good thing you have good recognizable amber eyes!" seethed Sakura once she got comfortable inside Tomoyo's Ferrari.

"Apologize? Yeah right, stupid emerald eyed girl." Syaoran thought as he continued walking to the principal's office to hand in the enrolment papers to the school.

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Author's note:

How was it? This is my first fic, so I'm not really sure how it turned out LOL. Well, this chapter is kinda long winded because well, I had to introduce Sakura's background and stuff… but I guess I made it obvious enough to show that the guy who knocked into Sakura is Syaoran, right? XD It's also kinda short, I know, but I'll make sure the next chapter would be longer and not so long winded (:

If you all have any questions, y'all can just pm me or give me some reviews and I'll answer them asap.

PLEASE REVIEW! I want to know how I did for my first time hees! ^^

Peace out~~~~~~ V^^V


	2. I want my apology!

Anything for you

Disclaimer: I do not own CSS or any characters from CSS. They belong to Clamp.

Author's Note: "Hi." This is normal dialogue while the ones in italics _"Hi." are thoughts.

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_

Chapter two:

The moment Sakura and Tomoyo reached the Kinomoto mansion, Tomoyo rushed Sakura inside her room and forced her to be seated in front of the dressing table and started helping her do her hair and makeup. Tomoyo took off Sakura's wig off, releasing her long flowing auburn hair and brushed it straight with a comb. When her hair finally got straight, Tomoyo began pinning some of Sakura's hair in a small bun while leaving some behind. After doing Sakura's hair, Tomoyo used a cotton wool to clean her face and put on light makeup on Sakura. She put on blue eye shadow to emphasize Sakura's emerald eyes. After the makeup was done, Tomoyo pushed an evening gown into Sakura's hands and called her to go inside the dressing room to change into it. Did I mention that Sakura's dressing room is a walk-in one?

When Tomoyo made sure Sakura went to change, she began doing her hair and makeup for herself as well. She put on fake eyelashes and peach coloured eye shadow to show off her large beautiful amethyst eyes. She put up her hair in a messy bun, but it still looked fashionable and chic enough for the dinner function. When she did the final touch ups on her makeup and hair, she picked up her own dress and went to the dressing room to check up on how Sakura was doing before changing into her own gown.

When she knocked on the dressing room door, Sakura unlocked it and came out looking fantastic. Her gown was the same colour as her eyes, a bright emerald green, and it is a strapless gown with some Swarovski crystals embroidered on the bust area. Her dress is only knee length, so it shows off her slender legs. She also matched the dress with matching emerald earrings, bracelet and necklace to showcase her porcelain skin. She matched her outfit today with violet heels and made her look even more stunning.

"Sakura channnnnnnnnnnn~~~~~~~" Squealed Tomoyo with stars in her eyes as she searched her bag frantically for her camera to capture her beloved Sakura in such a lovely moment.

Sakura sweat dropped and sighed, "Errrr Tomoyo chan, is this really necessary? You see me like this every time I had to go for such events!"

"And I'm still very proud of how wonderful I can make you look despite how you dress yourself at school!" beamed Tomoyo as she continued snapping pictures with her camera.

After taking pictures of poor Sakura who had to stand there for quite a long time for Tomoyo to finish fantasizing about Sakura, she went inside the dressing room as well to change into her dress. Minutes later, she pushed open the doors and came out looking fabulous as well. Her dress was a violet open back halter dress that also stopped around her knees with a ribbon at the back. She too, wore matching jewelry and wore dark grey velvet heels.

The moment Tomoyo came out of the dressing room, Sakura gave her a smile, saying, "You look pretty fine too, Tomoyo chan."

"Thanks dear, now let's look at the mirror one last time before we set off, shall we?"

After making last minute touch ups and being satisfied with their looks today, the girls walked down the mansion and into Sakura's limousine to set off to the Li mansion. When they finally arrived at the Li Mansion, they found a lot of familiar faces, because they all belonged to huge corporations from all sorts of businesses, and of course, they saw Meiling too, because she is the cousin to the main person being introduced today, Syaoran Li.

"Hey girlfriends!" Meiling smiled as she saw her best friends come out of the limousine and enter the mansion.

"Hey there gorgeous!" Both Sakura and Tomoyo dragged Meiling in for a group hug.

"Thank God for coming, you have no idea how boring this thing is with all the people from the other companies coming up to me and talk about how great my cousin will be. They have no idea how much of a jerk he can be sometimes!" Meiling whined to the other two girls.

Tomoyo then laughed, "Come on, how bad can he be? Can he be worse than Touya?" and Sakura smiled at that comment her best friend just made of her own brother. "At least he doesn't call his relatives a kaijuu or monster…"

"Oh you have no idea. His attitude is really stuck up some times, thinking that he's the best person on the surface on Earth. More like the biggest idiot instead to me!" snickered Meiling.

The girls continued chatting happily amongst themselves as more guests continue to arrive and some rich kids trying to strike up a conversation with the 3 ladies. After about an hour later when most of the guests arrived, the lights dimmed, leaving only the front stage lights at its full blast. The president of Li corp., Yelan Li, stepped onto the stage and took over the mic, introducing her son.

"My son, Syaoran Li, has finally returned to Japan after years of foreign training in China and Hong Kong for 10 years to help me in my business. I hope that all of you will take care of him in future as he will be the successor for the Li Corps after I retire. Introducing… Syaoran Li!"

Right after she finished her speech, a lean figure walked up the stage in a black suit and a bow tie and stopped right beside Yelan Li. He had chestnut coloured hair that was messy, yet still made him look very fine, and his amber eyes really shone under the spotlights. All the girls except for Meiling, Sakura and Tomoyo immediately swooned over him and talked between themselves how sexy he looked on stage. Even the older guests were speaking about how promising he looked as the heir of Li Corps and how he looked like a great leader.

"Hey Meiling, that's your cousin right? I'll have to say he doesn't look too bad, does he?" Tomoyo whispered to Meiling.

"Don't let him hear that, that'll only boost his ego even more than it already is." Meiling told Tomoyo in a soft whisper. "Sakura, what do you think?"

"I think he's an asshole."

"Huh?" Both Tomoyo and Meiling were shocked at what just came out of Sakura's mouth a second ago. "Say that again?"

"I said I think he's an asshole!" hissed Sakura to the two girls.

"….But why? We haven't even met him before yet, Sakura chan!" Tomoyo exclaimed.

"Don't you recognize him? He's the idiot that poured coffee over me this afternoon at school without apologizing! Can't believe I have to see him every time I go to Li Corp from now on!" Sakura said exasperatedly with a really displeased look.

This wasn't good. Sakura was cold to everyone, but she was seldom angry at someone. And everyone knows how scary how Sakura can be when she's mad. She's go all out to making that person regret ever messing around with her. The last person that made her mad had to quit school because Sakura threatened to beat her up if she didn't. Of course, she didn't do it by letting her know she's a Kinomoto. That'll be bad for both her and the reputation of the company. But she has means to do that which even Tomoyo doesn't know.

"He did what?" Meiling almost shouted but since there were a lot of important guests around, she just whispered loudly.

"He's the guy? But Sakura, how can you be sure?" Tomoyo asked.

"I can recognize that messy hair and amber eyes anywhere. Not everyone has those strong eyes like he does." Sakura pointed out while glaring at Syaoran who is giving his speech on stage.

After the future heir of Li Corp, Syaoran Li, finished giving his speech about his future, there was a huge welcoming applause while he walked down the stage to socialize with his future business partners. The girls continued to talk between themselves for a while more before Syaoran approached them himself because he wanted to talk to Meiling. Beside him was Eriol Hiiragizawa, his best friend, who returned to Japan along with Syaoran.

"Hi, bastard." Meiling glared at Syaoran.

"Stop that, we're in public. You want to be rude, do it when this is over. Anyway, you know I'll be attending the same school as you starting tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, it's a pain knowing that I'll be stuck at the same school as you. Don't really have to remind me that. Let me introduce to you my best friends. This here is Sakura Kinomoto, and this is Tomoyo Daidouji from Daidouji Fashions. "

"Nice to meet you, ladies. As you have known from just now, my name is Syaoran Li. We'll be schoolmates from now on, so please take care of me. Let me also introduce my friend as well. This is Eriol Hiiragizawa. He's both Meiling's and my cousin. He'll also be attending the same school as all of us."

"Nice to meet you, Kinomoto san, Daidouji san." Eriol shook hands politely with the 2 girls.

"Please, call us Sakura and Tomoyo, Hiiragizawa san. Nice to meet you too, Li-san, Hiiragizawa-san." And Tomoyo flashed them one of her sweet smiles that could make guys swoon over her at once.

"Then please call us by our first names too, Tomoyo chan." Smiled Eriol.

Eriol and Tomoyo continued to chat and Meiling went off to search for her Aunt Yelan to talk about other things such as Syaoran's enrollment. This left Sakura and Syaoran alone to speak with each other.

"Good evening, Kinomoto-san. How are your father and brother doing recently?"

"They're fine, Li-san. But they are very busy with their work, hence I was sent to attend this function on their behalf tonight. They have sent their deepest apologies for not coming here personally to welcome you." Sakura bowed politely while trying to control herself from lashing at Syaoran.

"Please tell them I understand their situation. Thank you for coming instead. Please don't stand on the formalities with me, we're going to be schoolmates starting from tomorrow anyway. Call me Syaoran." He said politely. _"I still find those emerald eyes very familiar… Where have I seen them before?"_

"Then please call me Sakura too. Since we'll be schoolmates soon, I guess I shall not be so formal with you too as well. Speaking of which, don't you owe me an apology, Syaoran-kun?" Sakura smiled sweetly at Syaoran, but it was pretty obvious to Tomoyo and Meiling who were nearby that she was pissed. The smile that Sakura is showing Syaoran now is one of those smiles she showed before turning evil on someone.

Now it's Syaoran's turn to ask Sakura, "Pardon me, but I'm sure this is the first time we've met. I assure you that I have done nothing to offend such a lady like you."

"Oh dear. Have you forgotten that you spilled coffee on me this afternoon and left without saying sorry, Syaoran-kun?" The sweet smile has turned into a cold glare and each word sounded like cold knifes cutting through the cold air.

"Sorry but since when did I-" and suddenly, what happened that afternoon flashed through Syaoran's head all over again. "Oh, so you're that girl. But how come the way you looked back at school…" He was shocked at what he was seeing, because the person he knocked at school looked like she was from a poor family and this girl in front of him now is the youngest daughter from the Kinomoto Group. There was too much difference between the two images that even he could not understand how that was possible. However, he still covered up his shock with an arrogant smirk and said, "Hmph, like I said, I should be the one receiving an apology instead. You're the one that ran in the corridors and knocked me over."

Now Sakura was really pissed. "You could have at least apologized for breaking my spectacles in the process of standing up, right?" There was a visible frown on Sakura's flawless face as she continued to pursue for Syaoran's apology.

But Syaoran retorted with a snort, "Hmph, not my fault for bringing such a flimsy pair of glasses."

That sentence rendered Sakura speechless as her face started turning red from anger. "You…!" but she still controlled her temper well because people are starting to look in their direction. She could hear some people whispering things along the lines of how good the both of them looked together and whatnot. _"These people must be delusional to be thinking that way." _Sakura thought when she closed her eyes to try and calm herself down. _"Chill, Sakura. No use offending the heir of Li Corp… Chill… You can do this!" _

However, she still could not help but glare at Syaoran's amber eyes and Syaoran retaliated with a glare as well. _"How dare he/she…! No one has dared to look at me like this before!" _Thought the both of them at the same time. Tomoyo, Eriol and Meiling could swear upon their lives they could see fire around the both of them that moment and swore that they had never seen their friends act this way before in front of others.

Deciding that this should end right now, Tomoyo dismissed herself politely from Eriol, saying, "I'm sorry but I guess I'll have to leave with Sakura already. We still have things to do. So nice meeting you, Eriol-kun." And gave him a smile before leaving to stop Sakura from glaring at Syaoran any longer.

"There, there, dear, I think that's enough for today. We shall get going soon, don't you think? I suppose Touya wouldn't be too pleased that his sister is out here until too late. Now excuse us, Syaoran-kun. Nice meeting you tonight!" and bowed to Syaoran before dragging Sakura away from him.

Both Syaoran and Sakura gave each other one last death glare before turning in different directions towards their friends.

Sakura was fuming with anger and Tomoyo could only look on with amusement as her friend was practically glaring at anything that was in her way.

When they found Meiling with her Aunt Yelan, they introduced themselves briefly to Yelan Li before she left to attend to other matters regarding the function. When Meiling saw Sakura's face, she raised a brow at Tomoyo, "What's gotten into her?"

"She-" Tomoyo was about to explain what just happened before getting cut off by Sakura herself.

"You're right, Meiling, he IS a jerk after all. No, I should say that he's far worse than a jerk. He's an asshole!" Sakura seethed through her clenched teeth.

Meiling almost burst out in laughter if not for the guests in the room. This was the first time she ever heard anyone describe her cousin as an asshole! The furthest Eriol and she went was calling Syaoran an idiot, but never an asshole. _"Oh things are going to be interesting from now on… hee hee!" _She thought mischieviously.

"Sorry but, Meiling, I guess we'll go home right now. It's late already, Touya would kill both me and Sakura if we're back at the Kinomoto's too late!" Tomoyo explained.

"OK, go ahead, I think the event's ending soon anyway. See you girls at school tomorrow!" and Meiling waved the two girls goodbye after giving them a hug.

"Bye Meiling~!" both of them said in unison before leaving for the entrance of the Li Mansion.

As they left for the entrance, Eriol and Syaoran were looking on and Eriol thought, "_Tomoyo Daidouji… What an amazing lady she is…" _and continued looking at her until she disappeared behind the door. Syaoran on the other hand, smirked and thought, _"What an interesting girl that Kinomoto girl is. I'm sure school won't be as boring as I thought after all, I guess." _And saw the limousine outside the mansion leave.

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Author's Note:

Is this considered too long? I took quite a while to finish this chapter… like about 5 hours? I don't know, it still seems like it's too longwinded :/  
I didn't really mean for Syaoran to discover Sakura was the "rude girl" so soon but oh well, it just came out. The original plan was that they go to school together first, letting Syaoran quarrel with Sakura then have the dinner function. But I guess both way works, ne? :D

I hope this chapter is better than the previous one. I think chapter one's too short but longwinded for its own good *low self confidence*

Please give me more reviews so I can continue writing!

Xoxo, Shining Cookies (:


	3. Don't mess with me!

Anything for you

Disclaimer: I do not own CSS or its characters. They belong to Clamp.

Author's note:

Hello there precious people! I am back with Chapter 3 :D Actually I finished this along with the first two chapters, but decided not to post this one first, reason being that I'd like to see your reactions first before editing this one.

About the previous two chapters, I only got to realize some stupid grammar and spelling mistakes here and there, so sorry. This time, I checked! (But still, no guarantees :/ ) And also… I HAVE SUBSCRIBERS AND MY FIRST REVIEWERS. I am honestly very happy :D Thank you guys for reading. *sobs into towel*  
I am glad that all of you enjoyed it (: I'm also happy that you all liked the length (: Anyway, I shall stop talking, so here you go for chapter 3! Enjoy! *smiles*

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Chapter 3:

When Sakura and Tomoyo got inside the limo to go back to the Kinomoto mansion, Sakura started mumbling along the lines of how stupid Syaoran is. Tomoyo, on the other hand, found it rather amusing to see her best friend acting this way. _"It's been so long since she's acted this way. Not after Aunt Nadeshiko left… I'm glad she's finally letting out some emotions, even if she's acting childish like this once in a while." _Thought Tomoyo and gave Sakura a warm smile.

"Tomoyo… Tomoyo! Are you even listening to me? Argh!" complained Sakura.

That broke the chain of thought Tomoyo was having, "Huh? Oh! Sorry, heh, was thinking about other things. You were saying?" and showed Sakura an apologetic smile.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her best friend and said, "I can't believe there's such a rude person in this world like him! Can you even believe him? He glared at me! No one has ever glared at THE Sakura Kinomoto before!"

"There, there, chill, woman! But isn't it nice? It's kind of interesting to have fun like this once in a while, right?"

"Fun? Interesting? Tomoyo chan, have you gone nuts? He's nothing but being the largest jerk on the surface of Earth! How can you even classify him under 'Interesting'?" Sakura exclaimed incredulously.

"Well, it has been a while I've seen you so worked up over something, moreover someone you've just met. Besides, I personally think the both of you looked pretty cute with each other! I had to suppress the urge to take out my camcorder to film that moment down just now!" and stars began to form on Tomoyo's eyes and around her as well.

Sakura was beyond shocked after hearing what Tomoyo just said. "Me? Him? Cute? Oh God, what has the world become of! Tomoyo, there is NO WAY the both of us would ever look good together!"

"Oh come on! The way the both of you looked at each other at the function just now was so extremely cute! But… enough of that already. Will it be ok with you? I mean, he knows your identity now. Won't he blow your cover at school tomorrow?" Tomoyo said as her stars faded and a concerned expression replaced her mischievous smile.

"… Holy mother of- Urgh! I completely forgot!" groaned Sakura as she rubbed her temples with her fingers. "What should I do now! Being the big jerk he is, he's sure to tell the whole school who I am! Then I'll never get my peace again as those hypocritical people come flocking around me like before again!"

"Well, I guess even if he knows your identity now, he won't tell everyone? Even if he tries to, Meiling will be there to beat the hell out of him anyway. We'll just tell Meiling to keep a closer eye on him at school tomorrow, that's all." Tomoyo reasoned out.

"I hope that's how things will go…" Sakura sighed as she can feel a headache coming soon.

~The next morning~

When Sakura woke up, she realized she was going to be late for school as she smashed her alarm clock on the floor when it rang the first time. Her brother was not there to wake her up this morning because he had gone to Paris for another one of his business trip. She was only woken up now because one of the maids realized that she took too long to prepare and come out for breakfast, only to find Sakura still in bed, with covers over her head.

The moment she sprang up from her pillows, she quickly went to clean up and put on her shoulder length wig with the help of the maids. She had to quickly find another pair of new spectacles because her old one was destroyed by Syaoran Li yesterday. _"I'll make you pay back for that, Li." _Growled Sakura.

Because she was running late, she only ordered the maids to make her a cup of coffee and a toast, so she could have it on Tomoyo's car on the way to school. Right after she told that to the maids, there was a honk outside the Kinomoto mansion, and it was obvious to Sakura that it was Tomoyo. She hurriedly took the toast and coffee before rushing out to meet Tomoyo.

"Sorry, Tomoyo, but I think I'll have to eat my breakfast in your car today. I overslept." And Sakura started munching on her toast while seeping her coffee slowly.

"Don't worry about that. I'll be sending this baby for cleaning soon anyway. Besides, I can drive other cars in the garage anytime. Or maybe, I can drive one of yours, since you never touch them yourself… Let's not put them to waste, shall we? Heh! I'll drive as slowly as I can so you won't choke." Smiled Tomoyo.

When they reached school and entered the class, they greeted their friends warmly and sat down on their seats. "Good morning, Takashi, Chiharu, Rika, Naoko!"

"Good morning, Tomoyo, Sakura! Why are the both of you so late today?" Chiharu asked.

"I overslept. I smashed the alarm clock when it first rang and it broke. And I had to find a new pair of specs because it was destroyed by someone yesterday." Sakura could feel herself losing her cool every time she remembers about Syaoran.

Before the other girls got to ask anything more, Terada Sensei walked in and told everyone to go back to their seats. When he walked in, Sakura and the others could see Rika's face turn red when she blushed at the sight of her fiancée, Terada Sensei.

"Good morning class. Before I start taking attendance and start teaching, I have an announcement for all of you. There will be two new students that transferred from Hong Kong to our class from today onwards. I hope that all of you would be nice to the both of them and help them in any way possible." Terada Sensei started.

When Sakura and Tomoyo heard that, they looked at each other and Sakura whispered, "Uh-oh… This is not happening, right?"

Just when those words escaped Sakura's mouth, Terada Sensei continued announcing, "Please welcome, Syaoran Li and Eriol Hiiragizawa!"

When the both of them entered the class, the class started chattering among themselves, with the girls discussing which was more handsome, Eriol or Syaoran, and the guys were talking about how familiar they looked because they have seen the both of them on the news before.

"OK, quiet down, class. Let me introduce, this is Li-kun and this here is Hiiragizawa-kun. Both of them are cousins with Meiling-chan, so please take care of them, alright? Now let's find some seats for the both of you. Why not let Li-kun sit beside Sakura Minako-san there while Eriol sit in front of them with Tomoyo Daidouji-san?"

"Oh God… Why! Why do you have to do this to me, dear Lord?" grumbled Sakura under her breath while Tomoyo just smiled at Eriol sweetly.

"_Minako? Since when her surname changed from Kinomoto to Minako?" _Syaoran looked at Sakura, confused at both her odd surname and her outfit today. Sakura is currently glaring at Syaoran, as if telling him through telepathy that "_If you dare utter a single word about me, I'll make sure I'll rip your head off immediately."_

Terada Sensei then said, "Minako-san, Daidouji-san, I hope the both of you could bring Li-san and Hiiragizawa-san around the school so they could familiarize with the school sooner. Now, shall we resume to class? You may take your seats now, Li-kun, Hiiragizawa-kun. Everyone, please open your books to page 67."

Sakura sighed in relief because Syaoran had not told everyone about her true identity. At least not yet. As she was still savoring in relief, her peace was broken immediately when Syaoran sat down beside her and said softly, "Minako-san? Whatever happened to Kinomoto? What's with this whole geek getup anyway? I'm starting to miss the mademoiselle from last night, you know."

"That's none of your business, asshole. Now stop bothering me, will you?" Sakura growled.

"Oh, really? Then I guess you won't mind me telling the whole class later about your surname being Kinomoto?" Syaoran smirked at Sakura.

"You…!" Sakura almost banged her hands on the table when Syaoran stopped her. "Nuh-uh, Sensei's watching, you know. Behave yourself. Tsk tsk tsk!" Syaoran shook his head to mock Sakura. But since it was still lesson time, she had to calm herself down. Because Syaoran and Sakura were too busy quarreling, they did not notice that Tomoyo and Eriol were peeking at them from time to time.

"Kawaii~~~~~" Tomoyo squealed softly and once again, stars are starting to form around her.

"They sure are, ne? I've never seen Syaoran being so childish in front of anyone before." Commented Eriol.

"Yeah, me neither. I've not seen Sakura have that much fun in knowing someone new in such a long time." Tomoyo smiled sadly after looking at Sakura trying to control herself from strangling Syaoran.

Eriol realized something was wrong, but decided to shrug it off and pay attention in class. However, he still made a mental note to himself to investigate about the Kinomotos and the Daidoujis later when he gets home, just to be safe. Meanwhile, Sakura had finally come into terms with her inner self to control her emotions to explain why she disguises herself when she goes to school.

"Look, I don't know about you, but I definitely hate it when people approach me just because of how I look or how rich I am, alright? This is my way of making my high school life more endurable, so if you're here to destroy it, I'll make sure you won't even live to see the daylight tomorrow." Sakura threatened Syaoran. "Sometimes, even I hate the fact that I'm from a rich family…" She said softly. Even though it was a soft whisper, Syaoran still heard it because he was right beside her.

But Syaoran seem to disagree with her, and said, "I don't find it troublesome to have people talk to you. I mean, sure, we all know why they're approaching us, but it's not like they'll do anything to us because of our status, right?"

"You have no idea at all…" Sakura replied silently and decided to revert her attention back to what Terada Sensei is teaching. However, there was sadness in her eyes, and Syaoran managed to catch a glimpse of it before she covered it up by paying strong attention to class once again.

~Flashback~

"_Hey, don't you think that Kinomoto girl is too irritating for her own good? Who does she think she is? Just because she's rich doesn't mean she has to treat everybody as if they're trash right?"_

"_Yeah, my sentiments exactly. She's so rude with everyone. What's her problem anyway?" said Kaoru, one of Sakura's friends in middle school._

"_I bet she doesn't even treat us as friends. But we can't help it. She's rich and we'll have to put up with it. My parents told me to be nice to her because she's a Kinomoto." Said Hikaru, the girl who sat beside Sakura in class._

"_Yeah my parents told me to be friends with her too because my family has business deals with her company. But gosh, she's so irritating!" Kaoru said in a irritated tone._

_The 2 girls continued gossiping about Sakura behind her back in the school corridors, but unknown to them, Sakura was just standing behind the pillar, away from their sight. She heard each word clearly and she was shocked. She thought that both Kaoru and Hikaru were true friends to her, because the way they talked to her was different from the other people. They were much nicer to her, as if they really wanted to be friends with Sakura. She didn't expect them to be the same as the other people, no, they were worse than all the others. Sakura trusted them. They were the first people she trusted after her mother left her other than Tomoyo and the others._

_Tomoyo saw what was happening when she was walking back to class with Rika, Takashi, Chiharu and Naoko, and saw Sakura hiding behind the pillar with a dull expression. Sakura was just standing there, and tears flowed silently on her face. Sakura never cried. She thought she couldn't cry anymore after crying for months because of her mother. Her friends rushed over to Sakura in concern and comforted her. Tomoyo, being Sakura's best friend, couldn't stand it and walked towards Kaoru and Hikaru. She wasn't going to forgive anyone that makes her Sakura cry. _

"_Bitches, apologize to Sakura, this instant." Tomoyo said in a deep serious voice._

_Both of them were shocked that they were caught talking about Sakura, but recovered quickly. Kaoru said, "Why should we? Kinomoto is the rude one. There's nothing wrong with what we said!"_

_Rika and the rest looked on with disgusted expressions on their faces as Tomoyo continued giving them a piece of her mind. They were still a bit shocked though, Tomoyo had never been this angry at anyone before. Just when Tomoyo raised her hand to slap Hikaru to make her apologize to Sakura, Sakura pulled her hand back._

"_Sakura…! Let me go. These bitches need to learn not to mess with you." Tomoyo glared at both Kaoru and Hikaru who were now sitting on the floor, scared by Tomoyo._

"_Tomoyo, that's enough. I'll handle them myself. No one ever does this to a Kinomoto." Sakura gave both of them a cold glare before leaving with Tomoyo and the rest._

"_Sakura, are you going to be fine with this? They…!" Naoko asked worriedly._

"_Don't worry, they'll regret ever messing with me." Sakura warned with a cold voice._

_The next day, both Kaoru and Hikaru were expelled from the school and the Kinomotos stopped doing business with their familes._

~End of flashback~

Sakura was in an even worse mood than previously as she was reminded that she was stupid enough to be betrayed by some worthless girls. Hence, when class was over, she just packed her bags and left for lunch with Tomoyo, after telling Meiling to bring Syaoran and Eriol for a tour around the school.

Syaoran noticed that Sakura was a bit more colder to him than yesterday, and figured that it had something to do with what he said when class first started. He became curious as well like Eriol, but with a different reason, he just wanted to have some fun with Sakura. Eriol was actually concerned about why Tomoyo had the sad look on her a while ago. Syaoran also made a mental note to investigate about Sakura's past when he gets home too. _"It's really funny to see her angry, haha."_

_

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_

Author's note:

This was a bit shorter than chapter 2, I think? But I think this chapter is a bit boring isn't it? I was sleepy .

I'm not sure if it was a good decision to make Syaoran into such an immature person, so please tell me in the reviews, alright? I think this chapter was kinda redundant though, not much depth in it…

Anyway, thanks for reading and supporting! I'll try to update the next chapter soon as soon as I'm done with it, in the meanwhile, remember to keep the reviews coming, yeah? Hees!

Xoxo, Shining Cookies


	4. Save me from the darkness

Anything for you

Disclaimer: I do not own CSS (Even though I wish I did) or its characters. I think it's pretty obvious already LOL.

Author's notes:

Hi there again, precious people reading my work! I took longer to update again because well, I have a part time job going on during the holidays as well as other stuff. It'll probably take longer for me to update during the weekends and Friday too… But the reviews aren't coming anymore! ): I'm actually running out of ideas, so please continue giving me reviews so I can have inspirations! *makes puppy face*

I've gotten sick recently too, so my brain isn't functioning quite well for the past few days, but I'll try my best to continue writing and updating, so please continue to support me, kay? Anyway, here's the fourth chapter, ENJOY, MY PRECIOUS READERS! (:

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Chapter 4:

During lunch break, Syaoran got separated from Meiling and Eriol who were still exploring the campus, because apparently, his looks were so extraordinary that people kept requesting to take him around the school instead. (That's what he thought anyway…) When he finally got rid of the crowd, he found himself wandering around a block of the school that students seldom go to. He later realized that this part of the school is where the library, the science lab and the school storeroom is located, hence the students have no reason to go there unless they have lessons. He began searching for a place around that area that is even quieter, and he ended up on the roof of that school building. When he opened the door to the roof, he felt a cooling breeze that made him relax and calmed his thoughts. Right then, he decided that this place would be the place that he would come to during lunch breaks so he could escape being chased around by the students there. Just when he was about to sit down near the railing surrounding the roof, he caught a glimpse of a shadow at the other corner of the roof. He spotted a long mane of auburn hair and a girl lying on the floor, dozing off while lying against the wall with her earpiece connected to a mp3. He recognized that girl to be Sakura, because she took off her thick spectacles, hiding her flawless features from the world. He was surprised to find her here, because he thought that she would be together with Tomoyo since they left class together. _"What a pleasant surprise indeed. What's she doing here anyway?" _Thought Syaoran as he found a spot to sit beside Sakura.

When Sakura felt someone move beside her, she woke up immediately, thinking that she had been attacked or something since she was positive no one would ever find her in such a secluded area in school. When she saw that it was just Syaoran, she grunted in frustration, "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Who said I came here to find you? Aren't you thinking too highly of yourself?" Syaoran smirked at Sakura.

Embarrassed at what he said, Sakura stuttered, "T-then why are you here? I thought Meiling was bringing you around."

"I came here because I found the other students noisy to be with, is all. Now I understand why you decided to disguise yourself. It's so much more convenient this way, isn't it?" Syaoran stated it as though it was a matter of fact.

"See, I told you. That's why I found this quiet place to have a nap when I have things going through my head. Not even Tomoyo knows about this place. You're the first to discover here other than me."

"Does this make me special or something?" Syaoran smirked with a little bit of amusement.

"You can continue to dream. You're just lucky." Sakura retorted coldly.

"True. Does that mean I can continue coming here during lunch as well? This seems like a good place to relax after all."Syaoran asked.

"Do whatever you want. It's not like I'll be here every day anyway." Sakura started to stand up and leave.

"Where are you going?" Syaoran asked as he stood up as well.

"Back to class, idiot. Lunch is over." Sakura pointed out to him without turning back.

As Syaoran began to stand up and follow Sakura, she tripped him and made him fall. "Revenge for my spectacles, asshole." And she continued walking back to class, leaving Syaoran sitting on the floor, exasperated at what Sakura just did. _"She can do that…?" _Thought Syaoran, because that didn't seem like something Sakura would do. Unknown to Syaoran, as Sakura was walking alone back to class, Sakura was actually smiling slightly at how dumb Syaoran looked just now. _"That'll teach you to break my stuff and not apologize for it. Hmph."_

The next few days went on peacefully, except the few times Syaoran tried to irritate Sakura by taking her stationary and using them without her permission in class. Of course, Sakura got mad and kept reprimanding Syaoran for it. However, even though Sakura appeared to be angry at Syaoran for whatever stupid actions he did to her, Sakura still seemed more cheerful that before in the eyes of her friends, Tomoyo, Meiling and the others. Eriol and Tomoyo would occasionally tease the both of them on how close they seem, and there were a few times that Syaoran actually blushed at their jokes, while Sakura still remained indifferent and rolled her eyes every time she was being made fun of. There were also days where both Sakura and Syaoran would disappear during lunch and return together, because they had been on the secluded school roof, with Syaoran trying to talk to Sakura more. However, even though Syaoran had been enjoying his time by talking with Sakura every day, his fan club in school was very jealous of how close Sakura was with Syaoran. They couldn't stand the fact of another girl being close with their idol, but they could not do anything to her, because they had heard rumors of how she forced those who bullied her to quit school in the past. Besides, even if Sakura would not do anything, her rich friends would do something about it too, and they could not risk the chances. But as days went by, they saw that Syaoran would keep sticking around Sakura every time during lunch even though she acted cold towards him, and they could not take it anymore. And so, they came up with a plan after having numerous meetings to discuss what to do with Sakura.

Sakura felt that something did not feel right, because for the past few days, she had the feeling of being stalked and stared at. She paid more attention to her disguise, because she thought someone was trying to find out who she really is. Unknown to her was that those that stalked her was Syaoran's fan club members, so they could find out what Sakura did during her free time in school and found out that she always went to the school building that very few people went unless they had lessons. They did not notice that Syaoran and Sakura would be spending lunch together in the roof though. Eriol sensed something weird as well because he once saw a few girls spying on Sakura a few times during lunch, and worried for her. He decided to investigate on what those few girls were up to, but thought that he should not inform Syaoran, Tomoyo or Sakura's friends about it yet, because he was not sure what those girls were up to.

However, one day during lunch time, Sakura told Tomoyo that she would be going to the toilet and she left her friends to continue eating lunch in the school garden. On the way to the toilet, Sakura suddenly felt someone creep behind her and when she turned around, she saw a girl with a tennis racket and was knocked out by her in an instant without even looking at her face properly.

When she awoke, she found herself in a science lab in that quiet school building, with her hands and legs tied up and she was lying on the floor. The lab was pitch black with only one of the lights switched on, and she could hear that it was raining outside without the windows. The moment she opened her eyes, she felt a huge headache because she was just hit with a racket not long ago. She also heard a few female voices whispering softly, and one of them said, "Hey, I think she's awake."

Hearing that, another one of the girls, probably the leader of the group, walked slowly towards Sakura and squatted down in front of her. She then hissed to Sakura, "Cheap bitch, you're wondering why you're brought here right? Let me tell you, that's because you're so shameless! How dare you approach our Syaoran-sama and still be so cold to him! You should be thanking your ancestors for their good deeds for you to be able to talk with Syaoran-sama! But of course, someone so poor and uneducated like you wouldn't know how to appreciate how great Syaoran-sama is. This is why we brought you here to teach you that!" That girl then caught hold of Sakura's collar and yanked her a few times before pushing her towards the wall.

However, Sakura still seem unfazed by their actions and said calmly, "So this has something to do with that idiot. Who exactly are you anyway? Don't you realize what you're doing now is just stupid and childish?" she could not see the girls' faces because the room was too dark for her to identify anyone.

After what Sakura said, the girl was even more angered by her words. "Oh my gosh, did she just call our Syaoran-sama an idiot? How… how dare she say such a rude thing about our idol! She needs to be taught a lesson!" she growled. She pulled at Sakura's hair and ripped off her wig off her head, releasing Sakura's waist length auburn locks. Sakura's glasses also fell out of her face because of the vigorous shaking the girl did to Sakura. Realizing that all these were just a disguise, one of the girls said to another, "Hey, haven't I seen her before? I remember seeing her on a financial magazine my dad brought home one day… I think her name was Kinomoto? Oh, right, I think her name is Sakura Kinomoto, the youngest daughter of the Kinomoto Group! She's no ordinary girl by the surname of Makino… Hey we're in big trouble! We can't mess around with her!"

Knowing that her cover has been blown, Sakura became very angry, but she was unable to do anything about it since she was tied up. However, she spat at the girl that seemed to be the leader, "Bitch, let me go right now!"

The girl was horrified at what she had done, and said in a trembling voice, "Oh my God, what have I done… We can't back out now, so I think we'll just get out for now. Girls, let's go before anyone sees us. We'll come back for her later…" and with that, she scrambled to her feet and fled out of the place after switching off the lights and locked the science lab door. When those girls switched off the lights and locked the door, Sakura's eyes widened and fear crept over her. She had a phobia of the dark, because she was scared since young that there would be ghosts. She was also afraid of the thunder, and every time there was thunder, she would be scared stiff and all she could do was roll up into a ball and hide under her blankets alone. There was no one there to give her comfort because her brother and father would be busy with work and the maids does not know that she feared these kind of things. She had always handled this fear by herself, knowing that the maids would be there if anything happened. However, Sakura was all alone now with her hands and legs tied up and left alone in the science lab, which nobody ever visits. She was totally helpless in this situation.

Sakura tried to calm herself down by telling herself not to think about the things she feared about, and tried to stand up. Once she stood up, she tried banging on the door in an attempt to open the locked door and also scream at the top of her lungs, hoping someone would hear her and save her. When none of that worked, she trembled in fear and she felt her legs give up, causing her to fall down on the floor again. She began to crawl towards the corner of the room so she could feel a little safer and brought her knees to her chest. She was breathing deeply, trying to calm down, but a thunder sounded outside the room and Sakura gasped loudly. Then, Sakura started sobbing and tears escaped her eyes down her face. She sobbed and whispered, "Tomoyo chan… *sob* Chiharu… Rika… *sob* Mom…Mom…! Safe me, Mom… *sob*" Sakura continued crying out loud because she was so scared of the dark and lightning, and she was crying out for her mother, which she hated so much, without even knowing it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(Back at the school garden)

"What's taking Sakura so long? She said she's just going to the toilet… Hey Chiharu, let's go back to class, it's starting to rain already. Maybe we'll find Sakura there already?" Tomoyo said to Chiharu and the rest who were also having lunch with her and Sakura just now.

When the girls and Takashi reached the classroom, Rika told Tomoyo, "Eh… She's not here either…"

Naoko then said, "Really? Let me call her cell phone." And there was no response, only a voicemail saying that Sakura's phone had been switched off. "Her phone's off either. Where could she be?"

Just then, Syaoran was just coming back to class with Eriol from their lunch break. Syaoran spent lunch with Eriol, because he could not find Sakura on the roof.

Tomoyo rushed over to Eriol and told him with a worried expression, "Eriol-kun, Sakura-chan is missing! She told us that she went to the toilet just now, but she has not returned since! Could something happen to her?"

That caught the attention of Syaoran as he continued listening to what Tomoyo had to say. Just as he was about to ask more about it, Eriol's cell phone rang, breaking him off. Eriol picked up the phone and said, "Hello? … What! Are you positive? … Ok, you'll search outside of school to see if she went out, we'll search inside the campus. Call me once you've found out anything. And also, find out who's behind all this and why they did it. Alright, bye."

When Eriol hung up, he turned to Tomoyo immediately and told her, "My subordinates have told me that they heard someone say that they saw some girls knock Sakura out using a tennis racket and dragged her somewhere. We'll have to find out where she is. She might be in danger for all we know!"

After hearing that, Tomoyo started tearing up, "Oh God… How can this happen… Sakura's afraid of the dark and the thunder! She might be locked up somewhere and there's a storm happening outside! Oh Sakura, please be safe…!"

Syaoran's heart skipped a beat after knowing that Sakura was scared of those things. He ran out of the classroom immediately after telling the teacher he needs to be excused, even before Eriol could stop him. The others followed suit as well, but went to other parts of the school to search for Sakura.

The first thing that came to Syaoran's mind was the roof of the quiet school building, so he became even more worried when he didn't find Sakura there. He thought for a while where Sakura may be locked in, and decided to continue searching through that quiet building, because he had a hunch that Sakura had to be there for some reason. He did not understand why he was so worried, because he only met Sakura for about a month, by right, he should not even care about her. But he shook off that thought almost as soon as it came out, and concentrated on finding Sakura. As he was running down the stairs to the level where the science labs are located, he heard faint sobbing sounds coming from one of the science labs and he stopped dead in his tracks. He stood there for a second and confirmed that he did indeed hear someone sobbing down the corridors of the building. He went on to open all the doors of the science labs, hoping to find Sakura in one of them, but to no avail. Finally, as he reached the last science lab at the end of the corridors, he could hear the faint sobbing sounds getting louder, so he immediately rushed to the last remaining lab and tried opening the door, only finding out that it was locked. He banged on the door, trying to break it open, but failed. He then stepped back a few steps and kicked the door open. When the door opened, the light from the corridors flashed into the science lab, revealing Sakura at the corner of the room, petrified and sobbing nonstop, mumbling the name of her mother.

Syaoran rushed over to Sakura immediately and tried to free her from the ropes that bound Sakura. When he successfully untied Sakura, Syaoran went in front of Sakura and knelt in front her, asking her gently, "Sakura… Sakura! Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere? Sakura!" This was the first time he ever called her by her first name, but he could not help it. He was so worried for her, without knowing why.

When Sakura was finally untied, she looked up at Syaoran's face with fear written all over her face. She immediately got up and hugged Syaoran tightly without saying anything at all. All she did was hug Syaoran as if her life depended on it and cried out with all her might. As she was sobbing involuntarily, she was shouting in the arms of Syaoran, "Mom…! Mom…!" and she continued crying.

Syaoran was shocked what how Sakura reacted, but he got over it quickly and tried to calm her down, whispering comforting words to her and patting her head and back. He also hugged Sakura as she cried in his arms because he was so relieved that she was fine. After a while, he took out his phone and called Eriol who was with Tomoyo and informed them that he found Sakura unharmed and told them they were at the last science lab. Moments later, Tomoyo and the rest arrived at the science lab and saw Syaoran hugging Sakura as he tried to calm her down because she was still sobbing softly and scared stiff.

Upon seeing them, Syaoran let go of Sakura and Tomoyo ran over to Sakura and hugged her. Tomoyo was so worried about Sakura that her hands were shivering, fearing that something bad might have happened to her best friend. She cried as she checked whether Sakura was unharmed, and realized that Sakura's wig was ripped off and her hair was disheveled. The others also found Sakura's specs and cell phone nearby too. Sakura's eyes were swollen from crying for so long and her voice was also coarse due to crying. When Tomoyo hugged Sakura close to her, she felt that Sakura was still trembling from fear. As Tomoyo and Naoko tried to hold Sakura to stand up, her legs buckled and she fainted, with Syaoran getting to her before she hit the floor.

~To be continued~

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Author's note:

Phew I'm done with this chapter, like finally! It's long! And to prevent it from being longer, I decided to continue the plot in the next chapter which I have not started on yet. What else do you guys want to happen next? Do tell me in the reviews! Thanks for reading, guys! (Please keep the reviews coming in ;_;)

Xoxo, Shining Cookies


	5. Peaceful days no more

Anything For You

Disclaimer: Once again, I will say that I do not and probably will not own CSS or any of its characters. It pains me to say this *bites handkerchief and sobs*

Author's notes:

I'm taking longer to finish chapter 5 because I am currently sick. My brain is practically pretty much half dead right now, so please understand ;_; I have a cold and stomach cramps as well, and it's getting somewhat difficult to focus on anything right now. But because I really got nothing to do but laze at home, I thought that I might as well continue off the new chapter…

I have a couple more reviews coming up after I posted chapter 4, so I'm pretty happy (: Thanks a lot for the kind people who liked my story and subscribed, followed and reviewed! Appreciated it a lot (: Anyway, I shall get on with the story before I actually pass out. Heh.

ENJOY, DARLINGS!

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Chapter 5:

_*Previously*_

_Upon seeing them, Syaoran let go of Sakura and Tomoyo ran over to Sakura and hugged her. Tomoyo was so worried about Sakura that her hands were shivering, fearing that something bad might have happened to her best friend. She cried as she checked whether Sakura was unharmed, and realized that Sakura's wig was ripped off and her hair was disheveled. The others also found Sakura's specs and cell phone nearby too. Sakura's eyes were swollen from crying for so long and her voice was also coarse due to crying. When Tomoyo hugged Sakura close to her, she felt that Sakura was still trembling from fear. As Tomoyo and Naoko tried to hold Sakura to stand up, her legs buckled and she fainted, with Syaoran getting to her before she hit the floor._

_Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

When Sakura passed out, Syaoran immediately rushed to her caught her before he hits the floor, injuring herself. He carried her bridal style and called Tomoyo to tell him where the Kinomoto mansion is so he could send her home right away. He took Eriol's car, a BMW, instead of his Lamborghini because obviously it would be too uncomfortable for Sakura who had just fainted. Tomoyo and Eriol went with him as well, while Rika, Chiharu, Naoko and Takashi went to the school office to apply for early dismissal for themselves and the rest.

The maids of the Kinomoto mansion were absolutely taken aback when they saw their young miss carried into the house by a strange man, but the first thing they did was to lead Syaoran to Sakura's room so he could rest her in her own bed. When Syaoran tucked Sakura under her warm covers, he turned to Tomoyo and asked her to call for Sakura's family doctor to check up on her condition. When Tomoyo left with the butler of the house to call the doctor, Syaoran then asked Eriol to find someone to investigate on what happened to Sakura and whoever that did it. He was going to make sure that anyone that dares do such a thing to Sakura regrets whatever they did. Eriol, hearing that, took out his cell phone and dialed a number leading to his family's investigating team and told them to find out what happened with specific details. After he hung up, he looked at Syaoran, and saw something that Eriol would never expect from his cousin. Syaoran was currently sitting on a chair beside Sakura's bed, looking worriedly at Sakura's sleeping face. He smiled a little at Syaoran and thought to himself, _"Well, look at what we have here. Looks like dear Syaoran here has a soft spot for the damsel in distress!"_

A while later, Tomoyo pushed open Sakura's room door and came in with Dr. Yukito, the family doctor for the Kinomoto family and also Touya's childhood friend. When he entered the room and saw Sakura's pale face on the bed, he exclaimed, "Oh dear, what happened to Sakura chan? Let me have a thorough check up on her. Could all of you please leave the room? I'll get back at you once I'm done, so don't worry."

Tomoyo held a worried expression on her face, and thoughts like what if something bad happened to Sakura flashed through her mind. She paced around the hallway outside Sakura's room in circles, until Eriol decided to walk up to her and stop her. "It's going to be alright, Tomoyo chan. I'm sure Sakura's going to be fine. You've got to have faith in her! Now follow me and breathe properly. Everything's going to be fine." Eriol looked into Tomoyo's eyes and only then did she calm down a bit and stood still. Right when she calmed down, Rika and the rest came to check on how Sakura's doing. Tomoyo updated them that Yukito was currently giving Sakura a thorough body check up and assured them that Sakura will be alright, and all of them heaved a sigh of relief. However, Syaoran continued to stare intensely at Sakura's door, anxiously waiting for the young doctor to come through and tell him how Sakura is doing.

Just then, Yukito opened the doors and came through with a smile. He assured everyone that was there, "Sakura's fine. She just fainted from shock, that's all. There are no injuries on her, so that's good news. However, because she just fainted, she'll have to take lots of rest, so I think I will call the school tomorrow and also Touya and her dad to inform then that she'll be skipping school for a day. By the way, she has woken up already, so you all can go inside and see how she's doing. I'll give her some vitamins also, so I'll be leaving now to get them, bye Tomoyo." He smiled at Tomoyo one last time before leaving to get the prescribed vitamins for Sakura. Only after hearing what Yukito said, Syaoran finally sighed in relief and smiled. He was thankful that Sakura was ok.

Tomoyo was the first to rush beside Sakura's bed with the others following suit and gave her a big hug. She started tearing up while hugging Sakura and said softly, "Oh God Sakura, thank heavens that you're safe…!"

"Tomoyo…! Can't… Breathe…!" choked Sakura because Tomoyo was practically strangling her.

Tomoyo let out a gasp and let go of Sakura, giving her a sheepish smile, "Oops, sorry. Are you feeling alright now?"

Sakura just gave her a weak smile and nodded her head a couple of times to assure everyone that she really is alright. All the other people inside the room also gave Sakura a smile back, glad that their friend is safe. Sakura then thanked them, "Thanks a lot guys. I'm fine, really. Oh, and Syaoran… Thanks for back then." Sakura blushed a little when she said that but no one saw it except for Eriol because she looked down at her blankets.

Syaoran just gave her a smile and said, "Don't mention it. It was the least I could have done."

Then Eriol spoke up, "Alright guys, I think we should let Sakura have a good rest. She had a rough day after all."

Meiling then agreed, "Yeah we should leave already. Sakura, sleep well alright? We'll see you soon."

The others waved Sakura goodbye and left the Kinomoto mansion to let Sakura rest peacefully.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(The next day school)

"Eriol, have you found out anything about what happened yesterday?" Syaoran asked as he walked to class with Eriol.

"Yeah, I found out who did it. It appears that it was the girls from your fan club in school that did this to Sakura. I think they're jealous of how close you and Sakura seem to be. I even found out which class they're in and what their names are. What are you intending to do with them?" Eriol told Syaoran all the information he knew.

"Well, first, we'll have to tell Meiling and the rest first. They're Sakura's best friends, they'll know what to do with those ignorant bitches. Besides, they disclosed Sakura's secret to the whole world. Now, everyone knows that Sakura isn't some girl that's born in a poor family. Tomoyo and Sakura will deal with it themselves." Syaoran thought out.

"Then what about us? Don't you intend to do anything about it?" Eriol asked.

"We can't do anything with it. We're guys and we can't possibly hurt girls. Besides, I'm a Li. I can't do anything reckless or the company's going to be affected." Syaoran pointed out though he was frustrated because he could do nothing about this issue.

When they reached class, they saw that Tomoyo was absent as well. Naoko informed them that Tomoyo had also taken leave so she could take care of Sakura. Eriol then went on to tell Takashi and the others on the things he managed to find out about the people that kept Sakura in the lab, and why they did it. Chiharu was furious after hearing the ridiculous reason why those girls did such a thing to Sakura, and she wanted to go to the classes of those girls and give them a public beating. Luckily, Takashi managed to pull her back from doing such a senseless thing and calmed her down.

Naoko, being the sensible one, then reasoned out, "We'll just have to look them up after school and see what we can do about them. In the meantime, let's calm down and think about how we can get them to make it up to Sakura, shall we? They blew her cover, after all."

Rika and the rest understood what she said and even though the girls are practically fuming with anger, they decided to hold it in until school ended.

The group of girls consisted of 4 3rd year girls from class 3-D, and one of them is the chairperson for Syaoran's fan club in school. When they knocked out Sakura, they did not expect her to be a Kinomoto because she was wearing a wig and thick framed glasses, so they did not know not to mess with her. However, when they found out Sakura's real identity, they freaked out and fled the scene, leaving Sakura alone in the lab, and told everyone what they saw, emitting the part that they kept Sakura tied up inside the school lab. When the whole school heard of such news, there was a huge commotion in school, and people only realized then the similarities between fake Sakura and real Sakura. There was really no way Sakura could deny her identity anymore, thanks to those girls.

When the last bell of the day rang, signaling the end of school, Meiling, Rika, Naoko and Chiharu went to class 3-D and called out those 4 girls that tried to harm their Sakura. They called the girls out into a deserted corner of the school, and gave those girls a small lesson of their own.

Meiling said with fire in her eyes, "Worthless bitches, do you have any idea what you did? You caused Sakura to faint!" and she gave the chairperson of Syaoran's fan club a slap.

"We didn't mean for it to happen! We… We were just going to give her a warning and keep her away from Syaoran sama… Please, forgive us! We'll never do it again!" The girl begged.

Rika then walked up to them and said darkly, "Then why did you tell the whole world about Sakura's disguise? Don't you know how hard Sakura tried to keep her identity a secret?"

Naoko was the next to speak up, "What are you girls going to do about it, huh? You do know what happened to whoever that messed with Sakura chan in the past, right?" and she gave the few girls an eerie smile as she pushed up her glasses with her finger.

Hearing that, he girls got even more frightened than before, and one of them knelt in front of Chiharu. "Oh Lord, please, don't expel us from the school! I swear it was just a slip of the tongue. We didn't mean to say her secret out! We'll do whatever you want us to do! Just don't make us leave school!"

Chiharu then squat down beside that girl and pulled at her hair, "Anything, you say? What about we drag you to Sakura's house and make you kneel in front of her? Is that ok with you?"

"Anything is fine, we'll do whatever you want us to do!" all the girls said in unison.

Meiling was satisfied and dragged one of the girls by her collar and pulled her to Sakura's house to apologize. Rika and the rest then pulled the girls on their feet and pushed them to follow Meiling to Sakura's house as well.

When they finally reached Sakura's house, Meiling made those girls go up to Sakura's room and kneel in front of the door to beg for Sakura's forgiveness. A moment later, Sakura opened her door and came out looking a little better from yesterday, but still weak. She looked at the girls coldly and asked why they were visiting her. The girls looked up to her and begged eagerly for Sakura to forgive them. Sakura fell silent for a while, and she decided to ask Tomoyo what she should do in a whisper.

"Well, do whatever you wanna do with them. They're the ones that did this to you anyway." Tomoyo shrugged at Sakura and gave the girls on the floor a cold stare. If glares could kill, the girls would have died on the spot already. They did not expect the kind and serene Tomoyo to be this scary at times like this.

Sakura finally made up her mind and said, "Tell the school I want them suspended from school for 2 weeks. I don't want to see them in front of me again. Make sure you don't appear around me again, got that?" and she shot those girls one of her trademark cold glares.

Chiharu and the rest were shocked at what Sakura said. Meiling burst out, "You're letting them off so easily? Sakura! They kept you in a cold lab during a storm!"

"Meiling, I'm tired, I don't want to do anything with this issue anymore. Besides, the whole school knows of my status now. I don't want people thinking that I used my power to force these whores out of school. That will affect our company's reputation if this spreads out. Just be glad I'm having it easy on you, sluts." Sakura growled at the girls that tried to harm her one last time before she went back to bed.

Meiling, even though frustrated, decided to respect Sakura's decision. She said to the girls in a low voice, "You're so lucky we're letting you off so easily this time. Now scram! Don't let us see your worthless faces again or we'll make sure you won't live to see the next sunrise!"

With that, the girls scrambled to their feet, thanked Sakura and the rest for their mercy and fled out of the Kinomoto mansion. After that, Sakura decided to stay at home for another day before she was healthy enough to go back to school for lessons. She also dropped her disguise, because she knew from what Tomoyo found out from Eriol, (they had been calling each other almost every night) that those few girls exposed her identity and now everyone knows who is really is. She figured that it would be useless to disguise anymore, so she just went to school with her waist length hair tied up into a high ponytail. She also decided to wear her uniform properly from now on because well, she has to carry the image of being a Kinomoto. She also told Tomoyo not to come fetch her anymore and she'll drive to school using one of the cars that her family has. She randomly picked a blue Porche Boxter S and drove to school.

The moment she entered the school compound with her car, she attracted a lot of attention, because it was rare to see another fabulous car except for the ones that belonged to Tomoyo, Eriol, Syaoran and the rest. More importantly, that car belonged to the Kinomoto Sakura, previously a girl they had neglected because they thought she was poor and that she was a geek in thick glasses. But since her real identity has been exposed, people naturally would flock to her side and try to suck up to her, hoping that the rich Sakura Kinomoto would befriend them and get some benefits off of her. Sakura, being the straight forward type of person, saw through their act immediately and knew what they wanted from her at first glance. However since people already knows about her status now, she could not afford to give them cold stares anymore and ignore the people who came to her. Instead, she has to give them a smile, regardless whether if it was a fake smile used during business occasions or a genuine smile, because only then would people speak about how sophisticated the Kinomoto family are. Even though Sakura found it a pain in the ass to have to entertain such people that may not give her any merits or benefits, she still did it anyway for the sake of raising the reputation of the Kinomoto Group.

Before Sakura stepped out of her Porche, she took a deep breath and let out a grunt of frustration. When she decided it was time for her to enter living hell, she raised her head and put on a small fake smile. She stepped out of the car gracefully like how a rich lady would do gave everyone around her a small grin. Although it was not some warm smile that was what people imagined a Kinomoto would show, they still went along with it since such a small smile was already a rare sight coming from Sakura. People were bedazzled by her charm, and some people could not even believe that they were seeing The Sakura Kinomoto alive in front of them. Sakura heard some praises coming from the crowd, with the girls saying how pretty she is and the guys saying how gorgeous she looks in the school uniform as if it was designed especially for her. When she caught one of the students saying that, she scoffed secretly and thought, _"Hmph, how come none of these came from any of you a few days ago?" _

Sakura flashed the crowd one last smile before she excused herself from being surrounded and walked towards Tomoyo and her friends who were waiting for her at the entrance of the classroom building. Tomoyo welcomed her by giving Sakura a warm smile and greeting her, "Good morning Sakura chan! How was your morning coming along?"

Sakura groaned under her breath even though she continued to smile as people were still looking, "Couldn't get any better than this, ne?"

Meiling snickered after catching the sarcasm in Sakura's sentence, "Heh, nice to have so many people love you all of a sudden, eh, Sakura channnnnnnn?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at Meiling and said, "Ha ha, very funny, Meiling. Why don't you try it someday?"

"Oh no, how can I? I wouldn't dare snatch the spotlight from the great Sakura chan, ne?" teased Meiling.

Sakura didn't say anything back, but showed Meiling a sarcastic smile instead. Tomoyo and the rest just giggled at how Meiling teased their dear Sakura chan. Sakura slumped down on her seat when they finally reached the classroom, and even then, there were a lot of people outside the classroom peeking at Sakura from the windows in the school corridors. Sakura could not take it anymore and finally let out a grunt, "Darn, I have not done it for so many years. Can't believe it's so tiring!" She dropped her head as she tried to drive away her headache due to the sudden increase in noise level around her by massaging her temples using her thumbs.

Tomoyo giggled when she saw how distressed Sakura looked and went behind her to massage her shoulders for her. "Sakura, you should have gotten used to it already, no? It was like this in the past too, isn't it? Doesn't it bring back memories?"

"Horrible memories, you mean?" Sakura groaned when she thought back how she was betrayed by some girls that approached her just because of her wealth.

"Oops, sorry…" Tomoyo felt bad for reminding Sakura of the bad memories, so she decided to drop the topic and talk about something else instead. "Hey Sakura, want to have a sleepover at my house next week? It's been ages since we've slept together, all of us! I kinda miss those days where all of us cuddle together on my bed and have girl talk all night!" Tomoyo continued to talk about how fun their old days are excitedly.

Seeing how Tomoyo is so riled up for the sleepover, Sakura could only agree. "Sure, why not? I mean, Touya and dad are always not at home anyway. I'm sure they'll agree."

"Then why not call along Eriol, Syaoran and Takashi as well! I mean, I'm sure Takashi feels left out every time only the girls hang out without him. Ne, Takashi-kun?" Tomoyo smiled at Takashi. "The guys can have their own guest rooms if you want."

"Are you sure you're not suggesting this because you want to spend a night with Eriol-kun, Tomoyo chan?" Rika looked at Tomoyo suspiciously.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about! I just want to have fun with our new friends, that's all…" and Tomoyo's face turned as red as a tomato.

"We'll just pretend that that that's your real intention, ne? Tomoyo chan!" Naoko flashed Tomoyo a sweet mocking smile.

"H-hey!" Tomoyo exclaimed shyly with her face in her palms.

"Just give it up, Tomoyo. We all know what you're thinking. It's ok, we approve of it. Eriol's a nice guy." Sakura gave Tomoyo a pat on the shoulder and nodded in approval.

"Hey Sakura chan, not you too!" Tomoyo cried in a pleading voice.

Just then, the reason for Tomoyo's excessive blushing walked through the door with Syaoran following closely behind. Eriol greeted everyone warmly, "Good morning everyone!" and he turned to Tomoyo and gave smiled to her, "Good morning, Tomoyo."

Tomoyo heard him, but in return, she only replied softly, "G-good morning, Eriol kun…" She said it softly because she still felt embarrassed by Sakura and the gang.

Syaoran, though intelligent when it comes to business and school, is really blunt when it comes to his own feelings as well as other people's feelings. Being as oblivious as he is, he could not understand why Tomoyo was acting so weirdly towards Eriol and asked bluntly, "What's wrong with her?"

Sakura then butted in, "Such an idiot like you wouldn't be able to understand this in a million years, so I suggest you give up thinking about it."

Agitated, Syaoran stood up from his seat and tried to rebut Sakura, "Hey you-"

However, before he could finish his sentence, Eriol cut in, "So what are you girls talking about just now?" seeing as to how Syaoran could not talk back to her, Sakura smirked in success, only to make Syaoran even madder.

Meiling answered, "Oh, Tomoyo was just planning a sleepover next weekend, and she wants to invite the 3 of you, Syaoran and Takashi too. Can you make it?"

"I don't see why not. Both me and Syaoran have nothing over the weekend next week anyway, ne Syaoran?" Eriol looked over to Syaoran.

Syaoran just gave back a simple reply because he was still being mad with being interrupted by Sakura earlier, "Yeah, sure."

Chiharu held onto Takashi's arm excitedly and said, "Yay! Sleepover!"

Tomoyo then clasped her hands together and finalized everything, "So it's set on next Saturday? Come over to my house next weekend and we can have fun together, alright?" and everyone agreed.

The day pretty much went on as per normal, just that there were still crowds of people that were curious about Sakura and their lunch was not as peaceful as it was in the past, but the gang just ignored it. Being in rich families, they had more or less gotten used to such treatment since young, so they thought nothing of it. However, Sakura still found it very irritating to have people stalk her every move, and thought it was totally irrelevant when she found out that some students set up a fan club for her as well, just like Syaoran does, and the members were increasing each day as more people get to witness how graceful she does everything. The next few days went by almost the same, just that the crowd got smaller around Sakura gradually, because there was an aura around Sakura that told them that Sakura hates being followed around and stalked at. Although there were less people that stalked on Sakura's every move, they were still paying close attention to whatever she does though. Soon, one week past and it was already the day before Tomoyo's sleepover with the guys as well.

Sakura drove back to her mansion after school and wanted to pack some clothes to bring over to Tomoyo's during the weekend, but as she was packing, the butler of the Kinomoto mansion knocked on Sakura's door. He was holding a package in his hands as he came through the door.

"What's wrong, Gin?" Sakura asked without looking up.

"You have a package from an anonymous sender, miss." Gin replied politely.

"Leave it on the table, I'll look at it later."

"Yes, miss." Gin complied and left the room.

After Sakura finished packing the clothes for the weekend, she walked over to the table with the package on it. There were also a cup of tea on it and some snacks to go along with it. Sakura picked up the package and began unwrapping it from its paper wrapping, and on top of the box, it said, "To Sakura Kinomoto" in English. She opened the box and there was a card in it. Written in English, it read, "Dear Miss Sakura, treat this as a gift to you before we meet. I'm sure you'll like this gift." There was no name written on the box or on the card, but Sakura ignored it, because there were times that some rich kids from other families sent flowers and presents to her, hoping that she would go out with them. Underneath the card, there were a couple of pictures.

She picked them up and looked at it, and right after, her eyes widened in shock and she quickly dialed a familiar number of her speed dial, and said something hurriedly to her phone. After she hung up, she scribbled something on a piece of paper before she grabbed her luggage with her clothes in it and drove to the airport and called the butler to prepare the Kinomoto private jet immediately.

What she said on the phone was something that shocked even the listener himself.

"Touya, I'm going to Paris. Now."

_~.~To be continued~.~_

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Author's Note:

Hey guysssssss! Whassup! This pretty much sums up chapter 5, and left all of you a cliff! I'll leave you guys to guess why Sakura was so worked up, but I think it's a giveaway anyway, if you've read the few previous chapters… Heh heh! There's only one thing that could get Sakura so worked up anyway.

Oh, and I'm so sorry I took about more than 2 days to update this chapter. I was busy during the weekends. School's going to start soon! Oh no… *plays doomsday music* This means that I might not have time to update this fic as often anymore! To make up for that, I plan on well, updating a couple more chapters this week to keep you guys occupied while I start to suffer in school. So please give me more reviews to keep me going!

Anyway, happy guessing! Continue giving me reviews, dearest people~

Thanks for reading, so ciao~~~

Xoxo, Shining Cookies


	6. Locks unlocked

Anything For You

Disclaimer: I actually think I have no need to say this anymore but just in case. I DON'T OWN CSS OR ITS CHARACTERS.

Author's note:

Hi guys~ Shining Cookies is back with another chapter! I am currently trying my very best to update as much as I can before school starts next Monday for me. That's because like I said before, I might not even survive to do anything once school starts due to mountain loads of work, so all the more I might not be alive to write stories. But sadly I am kinda losing inspiration and ideas on how to continue the story! If I continue writing like this I'm afraid the storyline would not be as smooth as I want it to be… So can all of you pretty please, give me more reviews on how you want the story to go? *pleads*

Anyway, I shall get on with the story and stop talking so much, so I can finish up more chapters by the end of this week. (I might not post them up all at once, just so you know (; )

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Chapter 6:

_*Recap*_

_She picked them up and looked at it, and right after, her eyes widened in shock and she quickly dialed a familiar number of her speed dial, and said something hurriedly to her phone. After she hung up, she scribbled something on a piece of paper before she grabbed her luggage with her clothes in it and drove to the airport and called the butler to prepare the Kinomoto private jet immediately._

_What she said on the phone was something that shocked even the listener himself._

"_Touya, I'm going to Paris. Now."_

_*End of recap*_

Tomoyo arrived at Sakura's house to pick her up for the sleepover, but when she got into the Kinomoto mansion and asked for Sakura, the butler, Gin, told her that she took her luggage and went out.

"Went out? What do you mean, Gin-san?" Tomoyo was confused because Sakura knew she was picking her up for shopping before the sleepover.

"Young Miss went out hurriedly after seeing a package from an anonymous sender, Miss Daidouji." Gin replied in a polite manner.

"Package? May I know what it is?"

"The package is still in Young Miss's room. You may like to go take a look upstairs, Daidouji-sama. Young Miss also left you a note before she left for the airport. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave to continue the chores now." Gin handed the piece of paper to Tomoyo, bowed and went on to do his work right after.

The piece of paper read, "I'm sorry Tomoyo, I won't be able to attend your sleepover. I'll be back soon. Love, Sakura." Something unusual was how Sakura wrote the note. Tomoyo knew her handwriting was not that messed up and felt that something was amiss immediately.

Tomoyo walked up to Sakura's room and found her room in a mess. There were clothes all spread across the room, but something caught her attention on the coffee table by the window. There was a small opened gift box on it and there were pieces of paper that fell on the floor. When she approached the table, she found the card from the sender and read it. After reading and wondering who the sender could be, she went on to pick up the papers that fell on the ground. When she picked them up, she gasped and covered her mouth in shock.

What was in the pictures was Sakura's mother. And in the background, there was the Eiffel Tower.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Back at Tomoyo's mansion)

Meiling, Eriol, Syaoran and the rest had arrived at Tomoyo's mansion, only to find that she was not in the house. They were brought to the living room to have tea and wait for Tomoyo to come back. After about 15 minutes, Tomoyo returned, but with an expression that no one could understand. They had expected Tomoyo to be all excited for the sleepover, but she was silent and her brows furrowed as if she was troubled by something. Tomoyo went to sit down beside Eriol. However, Syaoran noticed one thing. Sakura was missing.

"Where's Sakura, Tomoyo?" Syaoran asked, glancing across to room, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sakura.

"She won't be coming anymore." Tomoyo replied simply but sadly.

"What do you mean she's not coming? Is she sick?" Naoko asked with concern.

"No, Naoko, she's good. It's just that… She's not in Japan anymore. She's at Paris right now. She's trying to look for her mother." Tomoyo answered sadly.

"Her mother? Didn't she leave Sakura when she was young?" Eriol cut in, curious.

Everyone else in the room was surprised to hear what Eriol just said. They had no idea how Eriol would know about Sakura's past, since both he and Syaoran only met the gang not long ago. "I'm sorry, but I investigated a bit about Sakura after the first day of school. I noticed something wrong about Tomoyo's weird behavior when she mentioned Sakura's past, so I got curious and went on to find out. Sorry for not telling all of you these beforehand."

Finally, everyone understood, and Tomoyo said understandingly, "It's alright, Eriol-kun. We don't mind, since you're friends with us now." Tomoyo then smiled a little to the people in the room, "So anyways, Sakura won't be joining us, so I guess we'll just have to make do with the rest of us, ne?"

The rest of them continued to have to sleepover, but all of them could not help but worry about Sakura. They all knew how much Sakura's mother hurt Sakura, and could not understand why Sakura still wants to find her. Tomoyo was the one that was the most worried for her, because the both of them had been together since young and she was there too when Sakura's mother left her. She was also a little bit angry that Sakura decided to do this by herself and not mention a word about it to her, even though they both had been best friends ever since they could remember it. Eriol saw through her, and tried his best to keep Tomoyo company throughout the whole weekend by continuously talking to her about things not related to Sakura, but there were still times Tomoyo would space out or look outside the windows sadly. Syaoran was also worried about how Sakura was doing, and he started to wonder why he was feeling this way. _"I've never felt like this before. I've never worried for anyone before… Why am I having this uneasy feeling inside me? What exactly is Sakura to me?"_

The whole group went through the weekend at Tomoyo's mansion, watching movies and playing games like volleyball, and very soon, the weekend was over and it was already time to go to school on Monday. However, this Monday was a little different from the usual Mondays the group have each week. This Monday was Sakura's birthday. And Sakura was back in Japan, a little different than usual as well.

When Tomoyo entered the class with the rest, their eyes widened at what they saw. Sakura was sitting at her table, reading a book as if nothing had happened. Tomoyo walked up to Sakura and said, "Hey Sakura."

"Good morning, Tomoyo." said Sakura without looking up from her book.

"Don't you have anything to say to me or even the others, Sakura?" Tomoyo said softly.

"Why would I? I already apologized for not going to the sleepover. What else do I have to say?" replied Sakura. Her tone was cold and unfeeling, and that angered Tomoyo.

Tomoyo bit her lower lip to control her tears from falling from her eyes. She could not control herself and gave Sakura a tight slap on the cheek. She immediately realized what she did and tried to apologize, "Oh God…! I'm so sorry, Sakura, I didn't mean to-"

Before she could complete her sentence, Sakura stood up from her seat and set aside her book. Her locks covered her face, so no one saw how she looked after getting slapped by Tomoyo. Sakura stood up and walked silently out of class without saying a word. Meiling, seeing how things turned out, wanted to run after Sakura to ask why she was doing this to everyone. However before she could even take another step, Syaoran held her down and said, "Let her have some alone time. I think she needs to think things over alone right now."

Right after Sakura walked out on everybody, Tomoyo started to cry, and the girls went over to her side and gave her a hug, hoping to make her feel better. Syaoran began to wonder as well, _"Why is she acting so weird? Did something happen when she was at Paris?"_

Lesson started and Sakura was still not back yet. The gang figured that she would like to be alone for the time being, so they made up some excuse for the teachers to make up for her absence. Tomoyo was moody the whole day, and this time, not even Eriol could make her smile. Syaoran, seeing this, decided that he would go find Sakura during lunch break, and hence, when lunch arrived, he excused himself from the rest and went to the roof of the quiet school building. As expected, when he opened up the doors to the roof, he found Sakura near her usual hiding spot, leaning against the railing surrounding the roof. She was staring at the sky sadly, and she was doing that for the whole time too, it seems, because Syaoran observed her for several minutes before approaching her and stood beside her.

Syaoran started the conversation, "Hey there." Sakura noticed his presence, but decided to ignore him instead and continued looking at the sky.

"You know, Tomoyo was really worried. So were all your friends." Syaoran noted out.

"I know." Sakura replied simply.

Syaoran then said, "Sakura, look down at the people having lunch below us. Notice that all their expressions are different? Each person has a different life, different backgrounds, and also different emotions. Hence this is why, their expressions on their faces would naturally be different from each other as well. The thoughts and emotions of people are always written on their faces. Of course there are always exceptions, and they are the ones that are used to hiding their emotions from other people." After saying that, he looked at Sakura's direction.

Sakura noticed his gaze and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"That's because I was referring to you." Syaoran pointed out as a matter of fact. Sakura looked back at him, thinking about what he just said, _"Am I… really like what he said?"_

Syaoran then continued, "I know what you're thinking right now. Yes, that's how you are. So I just want you to know, I don't wish that you continue wearing a mask to hide how you're really feeling deep inside, and be a little more natural to the people around you. You can tell me honestly what you're feeling, if you want to. You can also do that with your friends as well because I know they care genuinely for you. Can you do that?"

Sakura thought for a while before she decided to tell him what happened in Paris. "You know, the reason I went to Paris was to find my mother."

Syaoran nodded in understanding. "We figured out that much."

"And I couldn't find her. I asked around, I searched everywhere possible. She's nowhere to be seen. Today is my birthday. And she missed it, for the 8th time in a row. A couple of years ago, my dad told me mom doesn't even remember when my birthday is. He had to remind her every year when my birthday is. She doesn't even know how old I am. I'm not sure what I want either. I mean, I hate her, but I can't deny the fact that every night before I sleep, I think of the times that the both of us spent together, how we held hands when we go shopping, how I slept on her shoulders in the car on the way to somewhere. I can't stop myself from crying every night when I think that all of that was nothing but a whole big lie. I can't help but feel that, maybe my whole life is a lie! But I can't deny the fact… The fact that I still miss her and I want to ask her why she left me in the first place…" Sakura's voice got softer and softer as she finished her story.

Syaoran then said, "You know, I can be your house. A house to return to when you've had your fun, or when you're tired from life. I'll always be there for you when you need somewhere to hide in. So are your friends."

Sakura fell silent before replying truthfully. "I… I never knew. I never knew how to rely on others when I need it. Ever since young, I was running alone. After mom left, there was no one that could make me feel better. I thought it would be better for me to run alone since it would not hurt. Even if I tried to trust anyone again, it only turns out that those people just wanted my status. After that, I decided to lock myself up in my own world, locking away everyone, including Tomoyo even though I know she cares for me. I did this because I didn't want to get hurt again. I did this because I'm tired. I'm tired of being disappointed. Do you have any idea how it feels to be disappointed beyond the ability to count?" There was a really sad look in her eyes, and she sounded really lonely.

"Then how about… it's time we run together? I can give you a pull when you need strength and stop if you want someone to rest on…" Syaoran said slowly.

By then, Sakura was already tearing up after listening to all the things Syaoran said, and tears trickled down her cheeks silently as she continued to stare up into the skies. It pained Syaoran to see Sakura being so tormented. He went up beside her and gave her a hug. It was only then when Syaoran finally realized, _"I… I love her. I can't believe how much I love her. I want to see her smile so badly…" _

When Sakura felt the warmth on her, she could not control herself anymore and cried in Syaoran's arms.

"There, there, it's ok, let it all out. You'll be fine after that." Syaoran hugged Sakura close to him and whispered comforting words.

After a while when Sakura finally calmed down and stopped crying, Syaoran let go of her and said, "Now why don't we return to class and apologize to Tomoyo and the rest? They were really worried about you after all." And Sakura nodded without saying anymore words.

Sakura went up to Tomoyo the moment she entered the class, and she said in a soft voice, "I'm sorry, Tomoyo…"

Hearing that, Tomoyo stood up from her seat and went to hug Sakura, "No, I should be the one to be sorry. I swear I didn't mean to hit you just now, I was just worried. Does it still hurt? God, I'm so sorry Sakura-chan!"

"It's ok Tomoyo-chan. I deserved it. Sorry for being such a jackass this morning and leaving for Paris without letting you know. I won't do it again. I'll make sure to tell you everything in future." Sakura apologized to Tomoyo.

Everyone was touched by this scene and went to have a group hug and all of them cried a little. Eriol, who was looking on at the side, noticed Syaoran smiling at the scene. He nudged him in the ribs, "What did you say to Sakura? The old Sakura wouldn't do this."

Instead of telling Eriol the full story, he just said, "Well, let's just say I think I got Sakura to open up more and I got to realize something as well." Eriol, being as sensitive as he is, immediately caught up with what his cousin was thinking, _"Ah, so he finally realized what Sakura means to him, huh? I'm sure Tomoyo would be happy to know about this, ne?"_

After the girls cleared up their misunderstanding, they decided to throw a birthday party for Sakura. Unexpectedly, Sakura agreed to it happily without any protests. In the past, Sakura had always disliked the idea of birthday parties, especially on her very own, because it reminded her of her mother. However, after the small "lecture" Syaoran gave her on the rooftop during lunch, she decided to open up her heart a little and accepted the suggestion to celebrate her birthday happily with her friends for a change.

Due to the short notice for a birthday party, Tomoyo could only call the servants at her house to prepare a simple birthday cake, and by simple, she meant a huge strawberry cream cake made with only the best and the most expensive ingredients ever discovered. She also promised Sakura a handmade dress as her birthday present, and promised Sakura that she would make Sakura the most beautiful dress she had ever created. Rika, being the young daughter of a Toy making company, called the factory to make a doll replica of Sakura to give it to her. Naoko also called her family's company to design a laptop with the most up-to-date software with a design that is exclusive only for Sakura. Chiharu then presented Sakura with a bottle of perfume named after Sakura, called Cherry Mademoiselle. That perfume is currently the best selling product in Chiharu's company and Chiharu had invented the scent by herself. Takashi gave Sakura a scrapbook filled with compilations of pictures of the gang from young. Meiling, having learnt martial arts since young, decided to give Sakura a small knife made of gold with its handle embroidered with pink diamonds that were shaped like cherry blossoms. Since Eriol and Syaoran only met Sakura for less than a month, they were clueless about Sakura's birthday, so they were forgiven for not giving Sakura a present. However, they still insisted to give Sakura a present, even though they said it would be a belated one.

After school ended, the whole gang went to Tomoyo's mansion again, and they were welcomed with Tomoyo's servants with small poppers and all of them sang a happy birthday song for Sakura. They then brought out the cake from the kitchen, and instead of candles, there were small fireworks on them that shone like stars of different colours. Meiling, being the mischievous one, decided to use her finger, get some cream from the sides of the cake and smear it on Sakura. Not willing to let it go just like that, Sakura retaliated but grabbing a handful of cake and started aiming for Meiling. Unfortunately, Meiling was trained to be agile while training for martial arts, so she dodged the cake pretty easily, allowing the cake to be smashed right onto Syaoran's face, which was just right behind Meiling. Syaoran decided to take revenge, but missed Sakura and the cake hit Eriol instead. Soon, a food fight commenced, and not long after it started, it ended, because the huge cake was already reduced to pieces of cake and cream on everybody's faces and a huge mess on the floor.

After they washed up and changed into new clothes, they decided to go for a swim in Tomoyo's huge swimming pool and played water volleyball. The group split into groups of 4 since Tomoyo decided to be the referee cum cameraman and had a water volleyball match, with Syaoran and Sakura in the same team. Since the both of them were elites in both studies and sports, they naturally beat the other team hands down, even though Meiling and the other two guys are in the other team.

Through her camera lens, she observed the interaction between Sakura and Syaoran, and noticed a huge change in attitude in Sakura. She was more active than how she was in the past, and she wondered why, because just this morning she was still being the ice princess even to Tomoyo, and yet her attitude had a 180 degree change after the lunch break. She saw how much friendlier Sakura seemed towards Syaoran, and figured right away that her change was brought about because of him. She thought to herself, _"Kawaii…! They look so cute together! I really must film how happy Sakura looks right now for future purposes… Ho ho ho ho ho!"_

After the game, the sun had already set and the gang decided to go home. Sakura decided to stay over at Tomoyo's house to make up for missing out the sleep over, and before they went to bed, the girls had a little girls chat. They talked about little things from Tomoyo's new designs, boys such as how Tomoyo felt about Eriol and also about the cute things their friends did. Tomoyo obviously tried to avoid the topic of talking about Eriol, but with Sakura determined to dig out some dirt out of Tomoyo, she finally admitted to having overnight chats with Eriol and having a little feelings towards him. While saying that, Tomoyo really felt like she was going to burst because her face was so hot. Tomoyo noticed that Sakura was a little different from how she usually was, and decided to ask why, even though she had a hunch it had to do with Syaoran.

Sakura, however, just replied subtly, "Well, let's just say someone convinced me that I'm not running alone after all. That someone said that I should feel at home and be natural around the people who will always love me for who I am no matter what I do." Sakura smiled brightly at Tomoyo, and for a moment, Tomoyo saw the Sakura she knew before her mother left her. She felt happy for Sakura because she knew that Sakura had finally matured enough to learn how to rely on her friends. However, since there was still school the next morning, they decided to turn in early so they will not feel like zombies the next morning.

Before Sakura fell into deep slumber, she thought back what happened in the day, _"Not so much of a brat after all, huh, Syaoran Li." _And Sakura fell asleep with a tiny smile on her face.

The next few weeks went by quickly, and everybody noticed a big change in Sakura when she returned to school. She was much friendlier with everyone, and Sakura was more willing to talk to the people she didn't know as well. Everybody welcomed the new Sakura, even though deep down Sakura, she still kept her distance with those people.

Days and weeks went by just like that but one day as Sakura was driving to school, she spotted a familiar silhouette with long wavy purple hair and pearly white skin at the entrance of the school. She could not stop her car in time to catch a good glimpse of that silhouette, so she just parked her car quickly and got down to search for that figure immediately, but it was already nowhere to be seen. Sakura searched around for a while longer, but gave up after a while and shook her head slightly. _"I must have not slept enough last night. Why would I see her here out of all places?" _Sakura chuckled humorlessly to herself.

When she reached her classroom, class started immediately, because she had spent a little time outside trying to search for that figure with long wavy purple hair. Terada Sensei came in when the first bell rang, and started, "Today, we have another new student in our class. Please give her a lot of advice and help her in school ok? You may come in, young lady."

A girl about Sakura's height and age slide open the classroom door, and she had long wavy purple hair and the skin colour similar to the one Sakura saw earlier. Sakura and Tomoyo's eyes widened at the sight of the girl.

The girl smiled and bowed politely before introducing herself to the class, "Hello everyone. My name is Nicki Jamieson. I'm from London. Please take care of me from now on!"

The reason why Tomoyo and Sakura were so surprised at the new girl was evident.

The girl, named Nicki Jamieson, held a striking resemblance to Sakura's mother.

_~.~To be continued~.~_

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Author's Note:

Hey guyss~ This concludes chapter 6! It's pretty long isn't it? Sorry about that heh. And I know I took a day to finish this but you know, my mom's birthday is coming up and I'm preparing for the new semester for school! I'm reading up in advance on the business books so I won't be as lost as the first semester during the lectures. I flunked my first exam so I'm trying my very best to pull up my GPA right now ;_;

And yayyyyyyy for Syaoran realizes his feelings for Sakura! *moe*Same goes for Tomoyo as well hehe! Wonder when will Sakura realize that Syaoran is important too? I haven't really decided when Sakura will confess yet, so please tell me what you want to happen in reviews!

Ok I shall sign off right now and get to bed really soon, it's currently 2.30am midnight right here at Singapore and I am going to die of exhaustion soon ha ha!

Anyway, thanks for reading and keep those reviews coming please! Ciao~~~

Xoxo, SHINING COOKIES :D


	7. Obey me, or else

Anything For you

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own CSS or its characters.

Author's Note:

Sorry guys, for the slow updates! The weather in Singapore has been getting worse and worse, so that got my flu to worsen! There has been a haze in Singapore for the past few days as well, and that's getting me very restless.

But thank you, precious people to continued reading my story for giving me reviews even though I wasn't updating! That really gave me quite a motivation to get up from my bed and write a new chapter (:

Anyway, since I have not provided any new chapters recently I shall shut up and get on with the story. Thanks and ENJOY~~~ :D

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Chapter 7:

_*Previously*_

_A girl about Sakura's height and age slide open the classroom door, and she had long wavy purple hair and the skin colour similar to the one Sakura saw earlier. Sakura and Tomoyo's eyes widened at the sight of the girl._

_The girl smiled and bowed politely before introducing herself to the class, "Hello everyone. My name is Nicki Jamieson. I'm from London. Please take care of me from now on!"_

_The reason why Tomoyo and Sakura were so surprised at the new girl was evident._

_The girl, named Nicki Jamieson, held a striking resemblance to Sakura's mother._

_*End of recap*_

"Miss Jamieson here will only be studying at our school for one semester, because she is here only to get to know about the Japanese culture since she is half Japanese. After this semester, she will be returning to London. Since she will only be here for a short while, I hope that all of you would get along with her and be kind to her." Terada Sensei continued introducing the new girl. He then assigned Nicki to a seat right beside Sakura.

When Nicki settled down in her seat, she turned to Sakura and smiled sweetly at her, "You're Kinomoto-san, right? Wow you're even prettier in person than in those magazines! Nice to meet you!" and Nicki held out a hand to shake hands with Sakura.

Sakura was still astonished at how much this Nicki looks like her mother, but still shook her hands and said, "Erm, yeah, I'm Sakura Kinomoto… Nice to meet you, too." Sakura smiled weakly at Nicki and thought, _"Even her hands feel like mom's… Who is she…?"_

Classes resumed as per normal after the brief introduction of the new student, but Sakura was distracted by Nicki who looked like an exact replica from her own mother. She felt uncomfortable with such a distraction, so she made up a lie to tell the teachers that she was feeling unwell so she could skip lessons after lunch break ended. Since Syaoran and the rest had not seen a picture of Sakura's mother before, they did not know what was happening to Sakura, so they just decided to leave her alone for the time being. Only when Syaoran asked Eriol, who did research on Sakura and Tomoyo, did he find out that the new girl, Nicki looked like Sakura's mother. He knew that this was a very sensitive matter for Sakura, so he decided not to disturb Sakura for now and let her be. However, when the last bell of the day rang and it was time to go home, he looked up onto the school's roof and saw Sakura's troubled face, so he decided to find a way to make her happier.

He called his personal butler to investigate on Nicki Jamieson and also provide him with a picture of Sakura's mother, Nadeshiko. "Wei, tell me right away when you found out what I just said, alright? It's important."

Sakura also decided to go home when she heard the last bell, so she sighed and walked down the school building to her where her car was. She thought it was just another normal school day, but when she reached the Kinomoto mansion and entered the living room, she saw her father sitting there with a foreigner dressed in a suit. He seemed to be around the same age as Sakura's father, Fujitaka, and they were currently having tea and chatting happily in the living room. _"That's strange… Dad never comes home this early, moreover, with a guest… What's going on?"_

When Fujitaka noticed that his daughter had finally returned from school and stood up proudly as he signaled Sakura to walk over. "Let me introduce, this is Sakura, my youngest daughter. She attends Tomoeda high school. Sakura, hurry up and greet uncle."

Sakura, though clueless about the situation right now, still bowed politely, thinking that he might be an important guest. "Nice to meet you, Uncle."

"Ha ha ha, yes, nice to meet you too, fine lady. I heard that you attend Tomoeda High as well? Well, what do you know, my little girl as well! I wonder if the both of you have met yet in school today?" The man laughed with a deep voice and smiled and said in English.

Now, Sakura was really confused. She smiled awkwardly at the man, "Erm, excuse me but I don't think I've seen your precious daughter yet, Uncle."

Just right after she finished her sentence, the butler of the Kinomoto household interrupted their conversation, "Master, Miss Jamieson has arrived." And he signaled the servants of the house to open up the door to the mansion. In came Nicki Jamieson, and the moment she entered the mansion, she ran towards the man beside Sakura's father and gave him a hug. "Hi daddy! I'm back from school!"

The man, called Mr. Jamieson, replied with a smile, "Oh, welcome back my dear! Daddy has missed you! How was school today?"

"Japanese schools are so interesting! I found out that most Japanese students bring packed lunches called bentos to school for lunch break! It is so much more fun than in London, daddy!" Nicki exclaimed cheerfully to her father. It was only then when Nicki finally noticed Sakura's presence, "Oh, Kinomoto-san! I didn't realize that you're here! Is this your house?" Nicki let go of her father's hand and turned to Sakura.

Sakura was shocked, so she just simply replied, "Yes, this is my house… Nice to see you again, Miss Jamieson."

"The both of you know each other?" Fujitaka asked.

"Yes! We're classmates! Such a coincidence, right?" Nicki smiled brightly at Fujitaka. Nicki then bounced right beside Sakura, linking arms with her as if they were best friends.

Mr. Jamieson then laughed out loud, "Oh, wonderful! Miss Kinomoto, so you're classmates with my dear girl here! I must ask you to take good care of her in future. Sadly, I will have to leave Japan tonight to London because I cannot leave the company alone. Nicki will be staying at your house for the time being, is that alright with you, my dear?"

Before Sakura could even react to his request, Fujitaka cut in and agreed without even asking for her permission. "Sure, I will assure that your daughter will have the best time in her life with us in Japan. Please rest assured that we will agree to any request that Miss Jamieson here has."

Mr. Jamieson smiled, "Then I'm glad. But I will have to get going now. Can't miss the flight, can we?" and with that, he bid farewell to Sakura and Fujitaka and left the mansion into his limo. Nicki followed along as well to accompany her daddy to the airport.

After seeing them off, Sakura stormed into Fujitaka's room, confused at his weird behavior. "Dad, what's this all about? Why is that girl living with us? Why are you agreeing to this without my consent!"

Fujitaka sighed and explained calmly to Sakura, "Sakura, my dear, Mr. Jamieson is an important investor to the Kinomoto Group. We have to please his daughter to get him to invest in our company."

"But we have other investors too! Why are we even bother doing this? Is there something wrong with the company recently? Is there anything I can do to help?" Sakura asked with a worried expression.

"The company's having a few difficulties recently. But don't worry, if we manage to get Mr. Jamieson to invest with us, the problem will be solved. Sakura, can I trust you to answer to all of Miss Jamieson's needs? I need you to be her escort throughout her stay here. We can't do without this investment."

"But…!" Sakura tried to reason things out with her father.

"No buts, Sakura. We need to do this for the company. We have to feed thousands of employees' families. We can't let the company fail and we definitely cannot disappoint the people who worked so hard for us." Fujitaka looked at Sakura with fierce eyes.

Sakura was speechless. This has never happened to her family's company before, so all she could do was agree. Her father had never been this harsh on her either. "… I understand, father. I shall follow your orders and please Miss Jamieson."

For the next few days, Sakura has been playing the role as Nicki's escort and answered to her every need, even if they were ridiculous requests such as requesting for Kobe beef for lunch during the one hour lunch break suddenly. Because of that, so Sakura had to tell the school that she and Nicki will be excused for a few lessons just to bring her to a one of the Kinomoto hotels and restaurants to fulfill her request. There were also a couple of times Sakura had to run a few extra rounds around school while carrying Nicki during gym class because she claimed to have asthma, but later finding out that she was perfectly healthy. Nicki also forced Sakura to ignore her friends every time they wanted to speak to her, and she also liked to interrupt the conversations between Sakura and Syaoran in class, making Syaoran and the rest really irritated about her. The rest could not do anything about it, because Syaoran also found out why Sakura had to put up with Nicki as he did some research on her, and told the rest about it. They understood why Sakura had to do this because this was inevitable when your company is at stake, so they did not say anything and put up with Nicki's demanding requests too. Being Sakura's best friends, they also tried to help Sakura out by helping her fulfill some of the unreasonable needs, but there were still times that Nicki would specify that she wanted Sakura to do it for her instead of the others. Syaoran was the one to suffer the most besides Sakura, because Nicki kept wanting to get closer to him, and keeps requesting that he go shopping with her. Of course, Syaoran declined her offer, because he had got no reason to please Nicki personally, but saying no would upset Nicki, so he had to be really careful about his words as well. Every time Sakura saw Nicki trying to be with Syaoran, she felt a sting in her chest and she was feeling a bit angry at Syaoran for playing along. _"I don't know why I'm angry at him for no particular reason! It's just… frustrating!" _She thought as she saw another one of those scenes where Nicki tried to stick near Syaoran, and she wasn't liking any of it. She felt bitter, for some reason, but could not show it in front of Nicki.

But one day, after another one of the acts that Nicki showed her with Syaoran, Sakura could not take it anymore and went to the school rooftop alone, claiming to have a headache and excused herself from class so she could go to the sickbay. However, she went to the rooftop instead and stayed there throughout the whole morning until the bell rang, releasing the students for lunch break. A few minutes later, Syaoran came to the rooftop as well, and he smiled, because he was proud to know he guessed correctly that Sakura would be here. It was their special secret spot after all. But something was different than usual today, and that was because Sakura was frowning as she leaned on the railing. It seems like she was thinking about something really complicated, because she did not even notice Syaoran sneaking behind her and gave her a jab at her sides. She was startled and jumped in surprised after being poked. Sakura blushed at the sight of him, because she was just thinking about why she was so frustrated at Syaoran whenever Nicki got close to him. She then realized what she was doing and immediately turned away from him with a growl.

Syaoran raised a brow at her weird behavior and asked, "A penny for your thoughts, fine lady?"

"None of your business, Syaoran. Why don't you go back to entertaining Nicki?" growled Sakura.

"Hey, that's your job, not mine. Anyway, don't try to change the topic. What's up?" Syaoran continued probing.

Sakura kept silent, but as Syaoran continued to stare at her attentively as if she was some alien, she finally gave in after several moments of silence. "… Fine! Fine, I'll talk so stop staring at me like that. It's weird…"

Syaoran just smirked in reply and said in triumph, "OK, spill the beans!"

Sakura started blushing and started off, "I… I'm not sure why but I'm feeling very stuffy in my chest. It stings whenever Nicki tries to talk to you, and I get mad every time you play along with her. I feel like I'm going to suffocate every time you smile to her, and I feel like killing both you and her together when she links arms with you…!" Sakura's head start to droop as she found her fingers the most interesting things in the world and played around with them nonstop.

Syaoran was rendered speechless as Sakura continued ranting out whatever that was on her mind. "Sakura…! Calm down! Do you have any idea what you're saying right now?" He grabbed onto Sakura's shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"No… Let me finish! I don't know why I'm feeling this way! I don't why every time I see you, I feel like I can't breathe and I do many weird things such as getting angry at you for no particular reason! I don't know why I'm so messed up right now…" Sakura continued with her pace getting faster and faster as if she was shooting out her words like a machine gun. When she finally finished, she heaved loudly as she ran out of breath in the process of ranting. When she looked up from her fingers, she found Syaoran smirking at her, as if he was mocking her.

"…Why are you smiling like that? Did what I say sound funny?" Sakura's head drooped down once again.

"That's because… I like you too." Smirked Syaoran.

Sakura's head shot up in surprise, "W-Who said anything about liking you!"

Before Syaoran could reply her, Sakura's phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Sakura fished out her phone from her skirt pocket and looked at the caller ID. It said, "The brat". Sakura grunted in irritation, "Urgh, I've got to go now. Nicki's calling…" She stood up and pressed the answer button.

"Yes, Miss Jamieson, I'm coming right now. Don't worry, I'll be there in a jiffy. Sorry for leaving you alone." Her voice trailed off as Syaoran continued smiling at her retreating figure. Unknown to him, as Sakura was leaving the roof to meet Nicki, she was smiling to herself as well, _"So that's how it is, huh? Well at least I got it off my chest…"_

Nicki was waiting at that quiet school building entrance for Sakura, and when she saw Sakura, she pouted, "Don't you know you're not supposed to leave me alone? You friends aren't even interesting. They're so boring!"

Sakura got a bit angry at her comment but decided to keep it to herself instead. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone. It'll never happen again."

"And you! How can you do this to me! Didn't your mother teach you to be punctual and obey orders? Oh, right, I forgot you didn't have a mother." Nicki scoffed at Sakura. "Well I guess it will be ok if I call daddy to cancel the investment now, eh?"

Hearing the mention of her mother, and the last nerve snapped for Sakura. Her expression turned dark and she turned Nicki around, pinning her to the wall of the school building. "What exactly do you want? Who are you to speak about my mother?"

Nicki's cute expression disappeared in an instant and she eyed Sakura darkly, "Oh dear, is this how you treat the daughter of the person who will invest in your company? Besides, is this the right way to treat someone who gave you a present not long ago? I suppose you haven't forgotten the pictures I sent you… Am I right?"

Sakura scoffed at her, "What the hell are you blabbering about? What pictures-" but she stopped halfway and memories starting flashing through Sakura's mind. The pictures of her mother in Paris!

"What. Do. You. Want. From. Me?" Sakura asked with clenched teeth.

The cute smile returned to Nicki's face but Sakura found it extremely revolting. "Simple. I want Syaoran. If you be a good girl and listen to whatever I say and make Syaoran mine, I'll not only make sure that daddy makes your company even more prosperous, I'll also allow you to meet your mother after so many years."

_~.~To be continued~.~_

_

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_

Author's note:

Hi there precious people! This is chapter 7… how was it? I'm really sorry for any Nadeshiko fans around for making the nasty girl Nicki look like her and sorry for making her sound like such a bad mother T.T

Anyway! There's another cliffy here. Oh God even though I created Nicki, I really, really hate her. Gosh, if someone like that appeared in front of me, I'd slap her inside out!

Ok, I need to get ready to sleep, so goodbye my precious people! (I'll try to update soon ok (: )

Keep the reviews and subscription coming, ok? CIAO!

Xoxo, Shining cookies.


	8. I'm sorry, but I love you

Anything for you

Disclaimer: Hi, I'm sure everybody should know by now that I, Shining Cookies, do not own CSS or its characters. Yes, that's true. I only own Nicki and the plot.

Author's note:

I could probably only update a couple more chapters before school start and before I start going into a mid-hiatus stage… but no worries because I'll still try to write some more during the weekends after I've finished with my tutorials and such, alright?

And thank you so much for the reviews! That made me really happy, really! I'll answer some of it here in the author's notes if you have a question, so here it is:

**AyameRose**: Hi there! Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad to see you reviewing for almost every chapter :D Anyway, just to inform you, Nicki isn't related to Sakura's family. Her mother is not Nadeshiko, she just knows her, somehow (:

**Suikahime**: Yes I hate Nicki too, we all do, trust me (: I'm finding a way to get rid of her soon, so give me some ideas in the reviews, yeah? Thanks for reading!

For the rest of you, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT (: *bows in gratitude*

I shall get going with the story, so here you go! Enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 8:

_*Recap*_

_"What. Do. You. Want. From. Me?" Sakura asked with clenched teeth._

_The cute smile returned to Nicki's face but Sakura found it extremely revolting. "Simple. I want Syaoran. If you be a good girl and listen to whatever I say and make Syaoran mine, I'll not only make sure that daddy makes your company even more prosperous, I'll also allow you to meet your mother after so many years."_

_*End of recap*_

Sakura fell silent after hearing Nicki's new demand. Her mind went blank immediately, and she didn't know how to react. She just stood there, staring at Nicki, wide eyed. She was unsure about how she's feeling, heck, she was not even sure how she was supposed to feel! She just received a confession from Syaoran and had only realized her own feelings just a second ago and now Nicki says that she wants Sakura to get the both of them together? _"But… She knows where mom is!" _Sakura argued with her inner self.

Sakura avoided Nicki's eyes and hid her eyes away using her bangs. "…I don't know what you're talking about. Let's go back to class for now, Miss Jamieson." Sakura started walking off on her own, letting Nicki follow behind her closely. As Nicki followed Sakura's lead, she smirked and thought, _"The results are obvious. I won, apparently. And I still thought that she'd be fun to play with."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Back at the Kinomoto mansion at night)

Sakura sat down at her room's balcony, looking at the sunset and sipping her tea quietly, and she was thinking about what Nicki said in school.

"…_I'll allow you to meet your mother." _

Sakura's brows furrowed together as she tried to imagine what will happen if Syaoran really agreed to be with Nicki. There was suddenly a huge sting in her heart as if she was just stabbed through by a dagger. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that finding that mother of hers was more important. Even though it pained her to make a decision, she still made up her mind. _"Nothing can hurt more than losing one's mother, right? It's ok, it's not going to hurt any more than this…"_

She got up from her seat and walked towards the room Nicki stays and knocked on the door. When she entered the room, she saw Nicki staring out of her window with a towel over her head because she just had a shower. Nicki did not speak a word and did not bother about Sakura's presence.

"What if I decline your offer?" Sakura started.

Nicki turned around and sat down on her bed, crossing her legs, "Oh don't worry about that. I'm pretty sure you won't. Even if that's really the case, I have my means of getting you to do it."

"What will you do if I said no?" Sakura asked again.

"Hmm… I haven't given it a lot of thought yet, but I think daddy could start doing businesses in producing toys, electronics, cosmetics or fashion designing." Nicki stated while examining her perfectly manicured nails.

"You…!" Sakura was flabbergasted. She knew Nicki was referring to her best friends' family's companies. She wanted to say something back to Nicki, but no words came out as she felt a lump in her throat preventing her from doing so. She took a deep breath and said, "…Fine. I'll do it. But you have to promise that you will never touch my friends' companies and let me see my mother, deal?"

"Why don't you worry about your side of the deal first, little girl? Make sure none of your pesky friends ruin it too." Nicki looked up from her nails and smirked at Sakura before waving at her, telling her to leave the room.

The second Sakura left Nicki's room and closed the door behind her, she leaned on the wall and grabbed her chest with a pained look on her face. There were tear streaks on her face as she closed her eyes. She heaved deeply, trying to drive the pain in her heart away before going back to her room to prepare what she was going to do the next day at school.

The next morning at school, Sakura said that she wanted to switch seats with Nicki, so now Nicki was partners with Syaoran instead. Syaoran and the rest felt a bit odd, but thought it was just another one of the stupid requests Nicki made to Sakura. However, they found it even weirder as Sakura was being extremely friendly with the rest of the class and ignoring Syaoran whenever he tried to speak to her. What made them suspect something was wrong was the way Sakura was behaving whenever Nicki tried to get close to Syaoran. She was constantly creating chances for the both of them to be together, even during lunch break. Sakura would then disappear during lunch breaks after making Syaoran take care of Nicki, so he would be stuck with Nicki for the whole hour.

Days past just like that and almost every day was the same scenario. Sakura continued ignoring Syaoran despite his efforts of trying to get her to speak to him. He was getting more annoyed every single time Nicki glues herself onto him. Things were getting worse as time passed, because Sakura were not even defending her friends when Nicki insulted them every time they tried to intervene between Nicki and Syaoran.

"Sakura…! Why are you defending her when she's being the uneducated one!" Tomoyo tried to get Sakura to get even with Nicki.

However, Sakura did something unexpected. She went back to the old self before meeting Syaoran and used that cold attitude towards Tomoyo. "Please stop that. No one is to be this rude to Miss Jamieson. I apologize on behalf of my ignorant friends here, Miss Jamieson. Please forgive them for their insolence. I will ensure that none of this will ever happen again."

Meiling could not stand it anymore and tried to reason things out with Sakura and find out what exactly was happening, "Sakura chan! How can you do this to us? We're your friends!"

"And I have responsibilities of ensuring that Miss Jamieson enjoys her stay here as her escort. I will not forgive anyone who disrespects Miss Jamieson." Sakura replied unemotionally.

"Did this brat tell you to do this to you? If it's just about your company, all of us can help you! We have enough resources to save your company from whatever crisis you're having!" Tomoyo started to tear up, trying to get Sakura back to her senses. Seeing no reaction from Sakura, Tomoyo opened up her water bottle and splashed the water at Nicki, soaking her from head to toe. Everybody, including Sakura, was stunned by what she did, because the Tomoyo that they knew always held a calm demeanor and seldom does anything rash.

"Tomoyo Daidouji! Just because you're my friend doesn't mean you can do whatever you like! This is my business, stay out of it!" Sakura shouted at Tomoyo before turning back to Nicki to cover her up with her school jacket. Before Sakura could even ask if Nicki was hurt, a slap landed on Sakura's face, leaving a clear hand mark on Sakura's porcelain skin.

"Now I understand what people mean when they say how similar beings group together (Chinese idiom). Shouldn't you stay clear of such vulgar friends, Sakura-san?" Nicki said frostily after giving Sakura a tight slap. "I'm going home to change. Prepare the ride for me." Nicki walked out after leaving Sakura with those words.

Sakura stared at the ground darkly after Nicki left, but raised her head a while later with no emotion visible in her eyes. She turned to Tomoyo's direction and said in an unfeeling tone, "I think we should stop talking to each other for the time being, since Miss Jamieson didn't like it. And just another personal warning I'm giving to you guys, do not ever offend Miss Jamieson. For I am not sure what things she might be able to do as well. So… Goodbye, for now."

After finishing her sentence, Sakura turned and followed in the direction that Nicki went. However, as she turned, Syaoran managed to catch a glimpse of pain and guilt in Sakura's eyes, but that did not last for very long as she returned emotionless again. _"She doesn't want this. What is she thinking exactly! I need to talk to her really soon. Something's definitely going on with her that she didn't tell any of us." _Syaoran thought as he watched Sakura leave them. He convinced Tomoyo and the rest that Sakura did not mean whatever she said or did to them, and asked all of them to continue believing in Sakura as they all know what kind of person Sakura is. He also said there must be a good reason why Sakura was willing to tolerate all those things, and he is going to find out what it is.

A few days went by, but Sakura had been missing from school. Syaoran and the rest called up the Kinomoto residence and the butler told them that Sakura was perfectly healthy, and that she just decided to skip school for a few days.

When they asked Nicki why, she just simply replied like it was a matter of fact, "Well, that's because I told her not to. I find her a nuisance, so I told her to stop coming to school. Syaoran, isn't it nice? Now I can really be with you without her hanging around me all the time!" For the whole day, Nicki was sticking Syaoran throughout the whole day, but finally, Syaoran snapped and shook her arm away.

"I don't know what the hell is your problem, and I have no interest to know either, but just for your information, I have no plans to continue playing with you! Ever since you came, you've done nothing but create trouble for Sakura and all of us, not to mention that you've been nothing but an irritating whore around me. Get the hell out my sight!" Syaoran growled using a dangerous voice.

Nicki was infuriated after hearing what Syaoran just said to her, but she thought of a plan immediately that would make Syaoran go out with her for a date. When she went back to the Kinomoto mansion, she called Sakura to go to her room at once.

"You called, Miss Jamieson?" Sakura asked in an emotionless tone.

Nicki turned to face Sakura, "I have a plan and I want you to follow whatever I say, got that?"

Sakura replied shortly, "…Understood."

"I want you to call Syaoran out for tea, telling him that you need to talk to him. Next, I want you to act like how you did before, and tell him that you love him. Then, I want you to arrange for a date with him at some place romantic." Nicki stated her plans.

Sakura did not know what to say after hearing that, so she asked, "But Miss Jamieson, I thought that you liked him…"

Nicki then smiled with an evil glint in her eyes, "Of course I do. That's why you're going to do whatever I'm telling you to do next. After calling him out for a date, you will not appear in front of him. I will be the one to appear beside him, saying that you're busy with something else instead. But you will meet us later, with a man I arranged beforehand, to act as your boyfriend. You will appear near our premises, and you will kiss the man I sent with you right before Syaoran's very eyes. If he asks you about it, you will tell him that all that you've said before is a lie and that you had never set eyes on him ever. I will then comfort the devastated Syaoran. Got it?"

As Sakura tried to imagine the scenario, it hurt her so much tears started to well up in her eyes. But she covered it up by asking Nicki calmly, "And what do I get in return?"

"As I figured. I will arrange a meeting for you to meet you mother." Nicki offered.

With that condition provided to Sakura, she could only agree to Nicki's terms. The next day, Sakura went back to school, and acted like how she did before Nicki arrived. She was back to the cheerful Sakura everybody knew. Nicki was absent from school, which Sakura lied was because she had caught a flu, so Tomoyo and the rest just assumed that all the mean things that Sakura did was just a show to please Nicki. When they probed why Sakura did that, she made up a lie that her father told her to put up a show in front of Nicki. Since they also thought that way, Tomoyo and the rest did not ask any further. During lunch break, Sakura called Syaoran up to the roof top, telling that she has something to tell him. Curious, he did as she said, and went to the roof with her.

"I'm so glad you're back to who you really are. The past few weeks were horrible. YOU, were horrible." Syaoran laughed.

Sakura just gave him a small smile, feeling guilty for what she did. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to do that…"

Syaoran shook his head a few times and smiled at Sakura, "You don't have to apologize. We all know it was just for show anyway. So, what's up?"

Sakura began to look at the ground and started softly, "Remember what we said here the last time we were here before I went crazy on you guys?"

Syaoran nodded and urged Sakura to continue, "What about that?"

"I have thought through it thoroughly for the past weeks and I want to tell you… You're right. I like you. I like you so much I can't even control myself. Before I even knew it, I relied on you just because you told me to…" Sakura's voice kept getting softer after each word, but Syaoran still caught it. He was ecstatic! Sakura liked him just like how he liked her! To Syaoran, that was the best thing he had ever heard.

"Are you sure? I mean, I won't feel sad if you rejected me!" Syaoran wanted to reconfirm.

Sakura giggled after hearing what he just said, "Why? Would you like it more if I said no instead?"

"N-no! Definitely not! I'm more than happy to hear this!" Syaoran ruffled his messy chestnut hair as he spoke.

"Anyway… I'd like to go out with you this Saturday… Would be it alright with you?" Sakura offered.

Syaoran was on cloud nine after hearing Sakura's offer, "Sure! Of course! God, I love you so much!" and brought Sakura in for a tight hug.

Sakura was a bit shocked at first, but sadness soon took over her as she hugged Syaoran back and thought, _"I'm sorry, Syaoran… I'm really sorry, but please believe me when I said that I love you too…"_

The both of them started dating publicly and held hands in school for the next few days, and they did not have to hide it because Nicki was still absent from school. Sakura used this chance to make more memories with Syaoran, because she knew that she will have to betray him soon and leave him with Nicki. The both of them enjoyed every moment together and soon, it was Saturday, the couple's first date.

Syaoran woke up early so he could call Eriol over to see what he should wear. He was freaking out because it was his first date with Sakura and he absolutely could not wait another second longer.

"There's nothing to worry about. Sakura likes you for who you are, not how you dress anyway. I wasn't this nervous when I went on my first date with Tomoyo." Eriol pointed out to Syaoran as he held Tomoyo close and gave her a smile.

"But I still want to look good in front of her- Wait! The both of you are together?" Syaoran asked, wide eyed, as if he just found out some breaking news.

"Yeah, we were together for quite a while now. You were just too busy worrying about Sakura to notice!" Tomoyo giggled.

Syaoran stood there, shocked, for a moment before coming back to reality. "Anyway, would this be ok? God, I can't believe I'm so nervous…"

"Don't worry, I'm sure Sakura will be fine with anything!" Tomoyo reassured him.

After preparing himself for the date, he drove to one of the Kinomoto hotels that Sakura's family owns to wait for her. He was also told that they will be having a romantic dinner there. However, Syaoran waited for Sakura for about an hour, and yet she was nowhere to be seen. He tried calling her, but her phone was switched off. He was starting to get worried, but just then, a girl walked up to him.

"Syaoran! Oh dear, have you waited for a long time? I'm sorry but, Sakura told me to come instead… She said she had some errands to attend to for the company, so she couldn't make it… She asked me to accompany you instead. I heard that you'll be having dinner here right, let's go or we'll miss it!" The girl that came up to Syaoran was none other than Nicki who had planned all of this. Syaoran was confused at what was happening, but he thought that since Sakura had a reason, he should let it go, but it was still weird how she ditched him without telling him about it. Since there was a reservation, he could not find a reason to reject having dinner with Nicki.

However, as they went up to the restaurant of the hotel, and they saw Sakura with a mysterious man. Syaoran could not believe what he was seeing, while Nicki was just smirking behind him.

Right in front of them was Sakura. And she was kissing that man passionately.

_~.~To be continued~.~_

* * *

Author's notes:

Hi there this is chapter 8! I think I have gotten myself hooked on giving little cliffs at the end of every chapter ha ha! I personally think I have watched too many dramas to be able to come up with such a storyline and make Sakura so heartbroken HAHAHA.

Once again I apologize for how bitchy Nicki is. I'll make sure she'll disappear by next chapter, alright? Even though I created her I can't stand her as well!

Anyway… I shall sign off now and think of new ideas for the next chapter. Tell me what you think about this chapter, ok? ^^

Please continue giving me reviews and keep the subscription coming! Thanks for reading~~~

Xoxo, Shining Cookies


	9. Hello, long time no see

Anything for you

Disclaimer: I do not own CCS. I wish I did though ): The only thing I own is the plot and Nicki! ):

Author's notes:

First things first. I AM VERY SORRY FOR BEING MISSING FOR SO LONG. *kneels and begs for forgiveness*  
School has started since 3 weeks ago and I'm already trying hard not to die with the mountain loads of things I need to finish! I have to complete stupid endless tutorials every weekend and I have about 5 major projects due in the next 2 months ):

One thing to be happy is that I'm very glad the reviews kept coming even though I was dying because of school. Makes me smile every time I open my email and see emails from you people ;D I'll reply some of you guys and get on with the story:

**Talia**: Glad you liked my story! Yes, sadly there's still a bit of errors even though I edited it, I'll try even harder to correct them (: And yayyyyyyy for cliff hangers! :D I hope everybody else loves them like you do (:

**Lhaine07**: Hi there~ Yes I hope she realized that she's so loved by everyone too! :D But as the saying says, "Blood's thicker than water." My heart goes out for this poor girl! I feel bad for making her this sad though HAHAHA. Good thing Tomoyo and the rest understand ne? ^^

**.K**: Yes of course who likes sad endings! Don't worry it'll be a happy ending (:

**Birdie: **THANK YOU. Drama is always loved everywhere, no? ^^ Nicki will disappear this chapter (: (THANK GOD SHE'S GONE.)

For the rest of you, thanks for continue reading (: I shall start the story already :/

* * *

Chapter 9:

_*recap*_

_However, as they went up to the restaurant of the hotel, and they saw Sakura with a mysterious man. Syaoran could not believe what he was seeing, while Nicki was just smirking behind him._

_Right in front of them was Sakura. And she was kissing that man passionately._

_*End of recap*_

Syaoran stopped dead in his tracks with Nicki clinging onto his arm and smirking behind his back. He did not know what to react, and he just stood there looking at the scene before his eyes, baffled. Sakura, _his_ Sakura, was kissing another man right before his eyes. The woman before him was the Sakura who had spent the past few days happily with him and answered to his confession. And yet she was kissing another man. The man was groping at Sakura's body as well as the both of them continued kissing passionately.

Nicki acted as though she was shocked and added oil to fire, "Oh gosh! So this is what her 'errands' meant? I didn't know Sakura was such a person! I can't believe she ditched you for a guy like that person she's kissing right now. What a cheap woman…"

Syaoran then snapped back to reality and sent Nicki a death glare. He said nothing more because he knew it would be a waste of effort talking to Nicki. Instead, he shook off his arm from Nicki's grip and walked up to Sakura and the man. He yanked Sakura away from the man's arms that were touching Sakura is ways that does not seem to have a decent intention.

Sakura let out a gasp while Syaoran asked her grimly, trying to control his rage, "What are you doing?"

Sakura was shaken because this was the first time she saw Syaoran so mad before. If glares could kill, she would probably be dead right now. However, she reminded herself why she was doing it, and regained her composure. _"All for the sake of seeing her one more time… You can do this Sakura, it'll only hurt a little…"_

She hid her pain behind a cold facade and replied Syaoran, "What do you think? Isn't it obvious enough?" After saying that, she wrapped her arms around the other man's arm and placed her head on his shoulder, while the man placed his hand on Sakura's waist, caressing her sides.

"Why?" Syaoran continued asking, as his blood continued to boil.

"There's no reason to it. I just got sick of you and decided to play around a bit. You didn't expect me to really reciprocate your feelings, did you?" Sakura smirked at Syaoran even though deep down inside, her heart felt like it had just been torn into tiny pieces. Tears started to form in her eyes and there was a lump in her throat preventing her from saying anything more. She bit her lip and held onto the man's arm harder, trying to control her emotions and got herself to say, "Well, I guess I should get going already. I'm busy, you see. I can see that you're busy with Miss Jamieson as well. So, I wish the both of you a wonderful evening. Let's go, Kenji-san." And she left with the man beside her called Kenji, leaving behind Syaoran who just had his heart broken by his new found love. As Sakura left, tears just kept flowing as she felt that she was just smashed by a hammer on her chest, but could not do anything but enter a hotel room with Kenji.

Even after Sakura had disappeared from his sight, Syaoran continued standing there, dumbfounded. His mind was blank, and he did not know what to do or say next, and he had totally forgotten about the presence of Nicki. Nicki, on the other hand, was smirking at how the scene unfolded before her and was very proud that things went the way she wanted them to go. She then went over to Syaoran and acted like she was sad how things turned out and tried to act sympathetic towards Syaoran.

"Oh Syaoran… I feel sad for you! I heard you were so happy that Sakura felt the same way towards you… It's going to be ok. Let's have our dinner first, alright? You'll still have to eat something, don't you?" Nicki said and dragged Syaoran along to the restaurant.

When they reached the restaurant, there was no one except the staff, because Nicki got Sakura to book down the whole restaurant for her. The manager guided the both of them to a table that was right beside a window that showed the whole of Tokyo's night view and signaled the staff to play some romantic music and also serve the courses. Throughout the whole meal, only Nicki was talking and eating, while Syaoran was basically just sitting there and staring at his food, occasionally playing with it. He was not listening to anything Nicki was saying at all, and all that was in his mind that moment was just the scene where Sakura was kissing Kenji. That scene kept replaying in his mind as if on repeat, and it made him lose all appetite. By then, the topic Nicki was talking about was how stupid Sakura is and how she always did according to what she told her to do, even if it was very obvious that she hated doing it. All these got on the nerves on Syaoran and when he finally had enough, he decided that he needed some time alone and stood up abruptly, making Nicki look up at him from her seat, stopping whatever she was doing.

"Syaoran! What's wrong?" Nicki asked, concerned.

"I think I should go home already. You can continue eating if you like." Syaoran said as he started to leave his seat.

Seeing this, Nicki left her seat as well and ran towards Syaoran and stopping him from leaving by grabbing his arm. "Why… Why are you still so smitten with that girl! What's so good about her? Why does everyone like her? Don't you get it? She's a slut! She's messing around with you! I'm the one who truly loves you! Why won't you look at me, Syaoran?" Nicki cried while holding onto the sleeve of Syaoran's jacket.

Something snapped inside Syaoran's mind as he finally realized what happened. He was tricked by Nicki! She made Sakura do all this nonsense! All this was just a show put up by Nicki so that he could give up Sakura and love her instead! He turned around and grabbed Nicki by her shoulders and he started to kiss Nicki hungrily like a beast. He also started to take off her jacket forcefully even though Nicki kept resisting and begged for him to stop but he was just too strong for her. He continued ravishing her as Nicki struggled to get out of his grasp and when she finally pushed him away from her, she gave Syaoran one tight slap out of shock.

"Stop it! Why are you doing this?" Nicki cried hysterically as she tried to pull up her jacket to cover herself.

"Isn't this what you wanted? You wanted me, didn't you? So here I am!" Syaoran replied coldly and started to approach Nicki again.

Nicki started to back away from Syaoran as he approached her, "No… This isn't what I wanted! Syaoran! Stop! Please!"

Syaoran was already right before her by then and he pinned Nicki on the wall, with his hands on both sides of Nicki, making her unable to escape. "Then what do you want from me! Why are you doing this to Sakura, everyone and yourself!"

"I did it because I love you! You're the first person that gave me a smile even though I was acting like a spoilt rich brat! You're the only person who had ever smiled at that didn't do it because you wanted daddy to help you in the business!" Nicki sobbed as she buried her face in her hands so that she could hide her face that was dirtied by smudged mascara and lipstick. She continued, "Daddy was never at home. He was always away at some other country doing business and wherever I went, people just approached me because of daddy! The people who did not care about my status scowled at me. Do you have any idea how it feels? So that's why when you smiled at me…"

When Syaoran heard her story and saw the hurt that was apparent in Nicki's eyes, his heart softened. "But Nicki, you'll have to understand that you can't force anybody to love you. You'll have to be sincere in whatever you say or do to people, only then will people learn to treasure you and be with you no matter what happens. This is why all of us love Sakura so much. She treats us as if we're the whole world to her."

Nicki's legs gave in as she lost all strength to even support herself and she dropped onto the floor with a thud. She just sat there as tears continue to fall. She then said softly, "I'm sorry… I was never loved by anyone before so I didn't know how to love another person… I'm really sorry…"

Syaoran squatted down before her and petted her, "Just don't do this ever again. Now tell me, what else have you done to Sakura?"

Nicki suddenly remembered what she ordered Kenji to do and she gasped. Her eyes widened in fear for what she had done without realizing the consequences. She grabbed Syaoran's sleeve once again, but this time not to stop him from going anywhere, but to tell him to rescue Sakura. "Sakura…! Hurry! Go to room 403! She's in danger! Hurry before it's too late!"

Syaoran bolted out of the restaurant immediately after hearing what Nicki told her. He had to save Sakura from whatever dangers she might be facing right now!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Back at where Sakura left Syaoran with Kenji)

After they entered the hotel room number 403, Sakura went to the bathroom immediately and cried her eyes out. She stayed that way for the next half an hour. When she finally got tired of crying and left the bathroom, her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying. She went to sit on the king sized bed in the side and sat on it before turning to Kenji and asked him, "Can I go home now? I'm tired… I believe my mission is accomplished already."

Kenji replied with a stoic face, "No, I believe it is not the case. Miss Jamieson had ordered me to guard you in this room until the next morning."

Sakura then sighed, "… Should have known. Alright, I'll stay here until tomorrow. But could you go fetch me a cup of water?"

Kenji went to the kitchen section of the suite and got Sakura a cup of water. However, unknown to Sakura, Kenji had drugged the water with a type of drug that would make any person weak within one minute and stay that way for the next couple of hours. Sakura gulped down the contents of the glass without suspecting anything, but felt her head spin and felt the strength from her limbs being sucked out of her soon after. She fell onto the bed and as she tried to push herself up, Kenji started taking off his shirt as well. Sakura's eyes widened at this and she said, "You drugged me! How could you! I already agreed to staying here the whole night, didn't I!"

By the time she finished her sentence, Kenji had already started to walk towards her with a naked torso and hovered over her on the bed. "I'm sorry but these are orders by Miss Jamieson." After saying that, Kenji started stripping Sakura despite her pleas for him to stop.

"No…! Syaoran! Save me, anyone! No, Stop! Don't touch me! Syaoran! Go away! No-" Kenji kissed Sakura on the lips forcefully, silencing her as he continued to take off Sakura's clothes. She wanted to shove him away but her neither her arms nor her legs had any strength to do so. All she could do was scream for him to stop and tried to avoid his kisses on her.

Meanwhile, Syaoran was running towards the suite Sakura was in and when he reached the door, he found out that it was locked. He banged on the door and when he stopped for a second when he heard faint pleas of help and resistance from Sakura, and he started knocking himself on the door and using hard objects nearby to break the lock in an attempt to break into the suite. When he finally succeeded in doing so, he rushed into the room only to see Kenji leaving wet kisses down Sakura's neck while she writhe in discomfort, and she was screaming Syaoran's name too.

Syaoran ran up to Kenji and gave him a punch, knocking him out in an instant and quickly went to see how Sakura was doing. Sakura was crying out of relief because for a moment, she thought she was done for.

He caressed Sakura's cheek as he asked, "You're alright, right? Nothing happened to you? It's alright, I'm here now…"

Sakura cried even harder when she felt the warmth from Syaoran hand on her face, and it pained Syaoran to see Sakura in such a state, so he just brought her into a hug and comforted her while whispering soothing words to calm her down. When the crying slowed down, Syaoran let go of Sakura and smiled at her, "I'm so glad you're fine. When I heard from Nicki that you might be in danger, my heart practically skipped a beat! Let's get you out of here before that guy wakes up."

Sakura was too tired to reply, so she just nodded her head lightly and allowed Syaoran to carry her out of the room and the hotel since the drug still took effect.

"You can stay over at my house for tonight if you want to. I don't think you'd want to see Nicki back at your house after all this, right?" Syaoran said as he carried Sakura when they entered the lift. However, there was no response from Sakura and when he looked down at her, he found out that she had already fallen into a deep slumber due to exhaustion. As he placed her inside his car, he smiled at her peaceful sleeping face and wiped away the tear streaks she had and smoothed out her messy hair that was messed up when she was assaulted by that Kenji guy.

When Syaoran reached his mansion, he carried Sakura again to his room and tucked her comfortably in his covers. He was actually amused as to how Sakura could still remain asleep even after him placing her inside his car a couple of times. When he was about to leave the room, he gave Sakura a peck on her forehead and wishing her to have a good night's sleep and have dream of good things. However, just as he was about to leave Sakura to sleep peacefully, he felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned around to see Sakura holding onto his sleeve, refusing to let go at all, and whispering in her sleep, "Don't leave me…" He then smiled sadly at Sakura and climbed onto the bed slowly in order not to wake Sakura, and placed Sakura's head on his shoulder and held her hand tightly before drifting to dreamland himself along with Sakura as well.

The next morning, Sakura woke up to the bright sunlight shining on her face, and she felt a comfortable warmth around her as well. As she creaked open one eye, she realized that she was in a room that she did not recognize, and sprung up from the bed immediately. Only then did she realize that Syaoran was beside her the whole night, accompanying her as she slept while holding her hand throughout the whole process. Her heart swelled with love for the man beside her as she saw the sleeping figure beside her and she tightened the grip on Syaoran's hand without realizing it herself. Syaoran opened his eyes as well, because he was woken up by Sakura's sudden movement and the tightened grip on his hand.

"Oh, gosh! I'm sorry! Did I wake you up?" Sakura apologized immediately.

"It's ok. About time we have to wake up anyway. How about you? Feeling alright? Had a good sleep last night?" Syaoran asked while caressing Sakura's hand lovingly.

Sakura nodded and replied with a small smile, "Yeah, it was the best night ever. It's been years since I could sleep without a nightmare about my past… I have regained my strength too. Thank you, Syaoran. And I'm sorry too, about yesterday's events, and also everything else."

Syaoran shook his head in reply and said, "I know you didn't mean it. I know Nicki told you to do all these. So don't worry about that anymore. I think she'll stop whatever she did already." After saying that, he gave Sakura an assuring smile. "Shall we head down for breakfast? I'll drive you back to your mansion after breakfast for you to continue resting for the weekend."

Sakura just nodded her head enthusiastically and allowed Syaoran to guide her down for breakfast after the both of them had freshened up. After breakfast, Syaoran sent Sakura home just as promised, and gave her a warm hug just before she entered the mansion.

"Sakura, I love you, so much I can't even express it with words." Syaoran said softly beside Sakura's ears.

Sakura hugged Syaoran even more tightly after hearing his words and replied, "Me too."

The both of them shared a sweet kiss together and when they finally separated for air, the both of them looked at each other happily while bidding the other goodbye. When Sakura finally could not see Syaoran and his car, only then did she enter the doors of the mansion and went straight to her room for a shower. When she came out of the shower and changed into a new set of clothes, her butler, Gin, knocked on the door.

"Come in, the door's not locked." Sakura replied while drying her hair at the dresser table.

"Miss Sakura, Miss Jamieson has left you a letter and had left to Paris. She has informed me to tell you that she will not be returning for the time being and she gives you her best wishes." Gin said in a respectful manner.

Sakura turned around to face him immediately, "She left? Did she say why? When did she leave?"

"She left with her belongings early this morning and she did not inform me as to her reasons of leaving. I was only instructed by Miss Jamieson to hand this letter to you, Miss Sakura." Gin said as he passed the letter over to Sakura.

Sakura took over the letter and dismissed Gin, while she started to open up the envelop. The letter read:

_Dear Sakura,_

_First, I would like to apologize for whatever I have done to you and the others. I know I have been more than unpleasant during the time I have been here, and I am truly sorry for that. I will return to Paris so that I would not be a bother to you and your friends anymore. I apologize for whatever hurt that I have caused you to suffer._

_However, even though I have caused much discomfort to you and your friends, I have prepared one last present for you. Please head over to the hotel we were in yesterday and go to the room where you were in with Kenji last night. You will see the present that I have prepared for you when you reach the place. Thank you for tolerating with me for the past few weeks, I've learnt a lot during my stay thanks to you and your friends. You know, you're very lucky to have friends who love you this much. You should appreciate it._

_Well, I guess it's time for me to leave now. Good bye, Sakura Kinomoto. It has been fun in Japan with you._

_Best wishes,  
Nicki Jamieson_

Sakura sighed after reading the letter, because she recalled how many things had happened in this short period of time when Nicki came. She was forced to be mean to the people she loved, confessed her feelings to Syaoran, lied to him, almost got raped and many more. However, when she remembered that Nicki said that there was a present for her, she could not help but wonder what it may be. She could not help but be curious, _"I mean, what present could she possibly give me? It's not like she knows what I like anyway." _Sakura thought. However, since she was still quite tired from the events that happened last night, she decided that she would go for a nap before going to see what sort of present Nicki had prepared for her. _"It could wait, can it? Not like it's anything of grave importance anyway." _Sakura shrugged off the thought and went to bed.

A couple of hours later, she woke up feeling refreshed. She changed out of the clothes that she slept in and slipped into a dark blue one piece dress and strapped on a pair of heels and headed out for the hotel. She went to the front office to ask for the master key so she could open the door for the 'gift', and the staff gladly gave it to her since well, the hotel belonged to her.

When she went up to the room 403, the room she was held captive yesterday, she had a feeling that there was someone inside the room, so out of curiosity and courtesy, she knocked on the door. When there was no response for a few seconds, she thought, _"I must still be tired after the whole event…" _and decided to open the door with the master key card. Just as she was about the slip the card into the slot where the key was supposed to be, there was a click coming from the lock of the door and the door opened, revealing a woman.

Sakura's eyes widened at the sight of the woman, and the woman covered her mouth in shock as well.

The lady that opened the door was none other than Nadeshiko, Sakura's very own mother.

_~.~To be continued~.~

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Author's notes:

Yes finally another chapter! DONE! :D  
Sorry for the long wait again hees. I wonder when I can have the next chapter up again though ): TOO BUSY TO BE EVEN ALIVE! ):

And yes people, CALL FOR CELEBRATION. NICKI IS OUT OF THE PICTURE! :D

I personally felt that this chapter was a bit… weird though. :/ But I feel bad for MIA-ing for the past 3 weeks so here you go (: Hope you all liked it!

I shall sign off now, since I have lots of school stuff to complete… Please keep the reviews coming ok! Please subscribe more as well! OK so see all of you next time~ Ciao~~~~~

Xoxo, Shining Cookies


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